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FffiiflEPlHiDGM DD [f4®HD(DDra PIKEOJSSEW^iET^TOS 5©. 



HI-TW-SrO-KK.KiOlEEH & HaOTKERS. 



HISTOEY OF GERMANY, 

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES. 

FOUNDED ON DR. DAVID MULLER'S "HISTORY OF 
THE GERMAN PEOPLE." 

By CHARLTON T. LEWIS. 






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4 



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NEW YORK: 

HARPEE & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 

1874. 



i^^-ozsoTI 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 187-t, by 

Harper & Brothers, 

In tlie Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 






PREFACE. 



De. David Mullek's "History of the German People" 
is the most useful and popular of the books from which 
the young people of Germany learn the story of their 
fatherland. Its author is scrupulously accurate in his as- 
sertions, and skillful in selecting and grouping the facts 
most worthy of remembrance ; and he has closely con- 
densed his narrative, without destroying its vivacity and 
interest. His work has therefore been selected as the basis 
of a History of Germany for American students. In pre- 
paring this, I have made a careful examination of other 
standard books which treat of the same subject, or of parts 
of it — many of them the authorities used by Dr. Miiller — 
and have thus been able 'to correct a few errors of fact, 
and to make a large number of additions, designed to 
render more intelligible the sequence of events, or to com- 
plete a just view of popular movements or of eminent 
men. Dr. Miiller's history of his Third Period, including 
the two centuries preceding the Peformation, is but a 
meagre sketch of national events, supplemented with fuller 
accounts of the leading princely houses and of their terri- 
tol'ies, in the expectation that each student will read that 
which relates to his own district or ruling family, and dis- 
regard the rest. For the American reader, who is inter- 
ested in German history only as it is a part of universal 
history, these notices recall no local or patriotic associa- 



vi PKEFACE. 

tions, but interrupt the narrative and confuse the memory. 
I have, therefore, from other sources — mainly the works 
of Ranke, Wirth, and Menzel — much enlarged the sketch 
of the history of the Empire during this period, incor- 
porating in it whatever is of national interest in the local 
notices, and excluding all that could find no place in the 
general narrative. I have also added, in a final chapter, a 
brief outline of the principal events in the new Empire 
since the Peace of Frankfort, the date at which the latest 
edition of Dr. Miiller's work ends. Thus my large indebt- 
edness to his admirable compendium for most of the ma- 
terials of this work demands an ample acknowledgment; 
but no responsibility for the assertions and views here pre- 
sented can be thrown upon him. 

Chaelton T. Lewis. 
New Yobk, June 2, 1874. 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK I. 

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE EMPIRE OF CHARLE- 
Chap. MAGNE. A.D. 800. Page 

I. FromtheEarliestAgestotheGieatMigrationofNations,A.D.375 1 
II. The Great Migrations and the Fall of the "Western Empire, A.D. 

375-476 33 

III. The Franks, the Merovingians, and the Family of Pepin, A.D. 

481-768 56 

IV. Charlemagne, A.D. 768-814 81 

BOOK 11. 

FROM CHARLEMAGNE TO THE GREAT INTERREGNUM. 
A.D. 814-1254. 

V. The Carlovingian Emperors, A. D. 814-918 99 

VL The Saxon Emperors, A.D. 919-1024 121 

VII. Emperors of the House of Franconia, A.D. 1024-1125 151 

VIII. The House of Hohenstaufen, A.D. 1138-1254 179 

IX. German Civilization under the Hohenstaufen Emperors 212 

BOOK III. 

FROM THE GREAT INTERREGNUM TO THE REFORMATION. 
A.D. 1254-1517. 

X. To the Death of Lewis the Bavarian, A.D. 1 347 235 

XI. From the Accession of Charles IV. to the Death of Sigismund, 

A.D. 1347-1437 262 

XII. From the Accession of Albert II. to the Reformation, A.D. 

1438-1517 286 

XIII. German Civilization in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries ; 

the Cities and their Leagues 317 

XIV. German Civilization — Continued : Life of the People, Plague and 

Persecution, Science and Art 333 

BOOK IV. 

THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY ; FROM LUTHER TO THE 
PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. A.D. 1517-1648. 

XV. Beginning and Early Progress of the Reformation ; Luther 354 

XVI. Formation of the Protestant Churches, and the Religious Wars 

of Charles V 378 



viii CONTENTS. 

Chap. . Page 
XVII. From the Religious Peace of Augsburg to tlie Edict of Resti- 
tution, A.D. 1555-1G29 399 

XVIII. End of the Thirty- Years' War ; the Peace of Westphalia, 

A.D. 1629-164:8 421 

XIX. German Civilization from Luther to the Peace of Westphalia 438 

BOOK V. 

FROM THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA TO THE PEACE OF 
PARIS. A.D. 1648-1810. 

XX. Decline of the Hapsburg IMonarchy 456 

XXI. Rise and Rapid Growth of Prussia 477 

XXII. Frederick the Great, and his Reign until the Seven- Years'. 

War 495 

XXIII. The Seven-Years' War, A.D. 1 756-1763 51 1 

XXIV. From the Peace of Hubertsburg to the French Revolution, 

A.D. 1 763-1791 ' 526 

XXV. From the French Revolution to the Peace of Luneville, A.D. 

1792-1 801 .548 

XXVI. From the Peace of Luneville to the Peace of Tilsit, A.D. 

1802-1807 , 564 

XXVII. Napoleon's Supremacy in Germany, A.D. 1 807-1810 583 

XXVIII. The Last Years of French Supremacy ; Napoleon in Russia 601 
XXIX. The New Birth of German Patriotism ; the War of Freedom 

begins, A.D. 1813 618 

XXX. The Emancipation of Germany; Napoleon Driven beyond the 

Rhine ' 631 

XXXI. The Overthrow of Napoleon ; Congress of Vienna 647 

BOOK VI. 

FROM THE PEACE OF PARIS TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
A.D. 1815-1874. 

XXXII. The Period of the German Confederation, A.D. 1815-1865.. 666 

XXXIII. The War of 1866, and the North German Confederation, 

A. D. 1 866-1 871 689 

XXXIV. The War of 1 870 to the Surrender of Sedan 712 

XXXV. The War with France — Continued ; Capitulation of Paris ; 

Peace of Frankfort -726 

XXXV;^he New German Empti^A^D. 1871-1874 748 

INDEX 775 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Frederick the Great Frontispiece. 

^<3 EMPERORS OP GERMANY. 



A.D. Page 

768.— Charlemagne 81 

8 1 i, — Lewis the Pious 99 

876. — Lewis the German 10-t 

876.— Charles the Fat 108 

■ 887.— Arnulf of Carinthia 110 

900.— Lewis the Child 115 

91-1. — Conrad I., of Franco- 

nia 117 

91-9.— Henry 1 121 

936.— Otto the Great 129 

973.— Otto 11 139 

983.— Otto III U2 

1002.— Henry II 146 

1024.- Conrad II l.-,0 

1039.— Henry III 156 

1056.— Henry IV 162 

1106.— Henry V.. 174 

1125. — Lothaire the Saxon 179 

1138. — Conrad III 184 

1152. — Frederick I., Barbarossa 187 

1190.— Henry VI 198 

1 197.— Philip of Suabia 201 

1 197.— Otto IV. 202 

1215.— Frederick II 204 

1273.— Rudolph of Hapsburg. . . 240 

] 292.— Adolphus of Nassau 244 

1298.— Albert 1 246 



A.D. Page 

1308.— Henry VII 250 

1314. — Lewis the Bavarian 253 

1314.— Frederick the Fair 255 

1347.— Charles IV 262 

T349. — Giinther of Schwarzburg 264 

1378.— Wenceslaus 269 

1400.— Eupert 274 

1410.— Sigismund 277 

1437.— Albert II 286 

1440.— Frederick III 291 

1493.— Maximilian 1 300 

1520.— Charles V 363 

1556.— Ferdinand 1 395 

1564.— Maximilian II 403 

1576.— Rudolph II 405 

1612.— Matthias 409 

1619.— Ferdinand II 412 

1 637.— Ferdinand III 432 

1657.— Leopold I 458 

1705.— Joseph 1 469 

171 1.— Charles VI 471 

1742.— Charles VII 502 

1745.— Francis 1 505 

1765. — Joseph II 535 

1790.— Leopold II 539 

1792.— Francis II 552 

1871.— William 1 752 



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HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



BOOK I. 

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE EMPIRE OF CHAR- 
LEMAGNE, A.D. 800. 



CHAPTER I. 

FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE GREAT MIGRATION OF NA- 
TIONS, A.D. 375. 

§ 1 . Character and Unity of German History. § 2. The Ancestors of the 
Germans in Asia. § 3. The Arian Migration. § 4. The German Race 
enter Europe. § 5. The Cimbri and Teutons. § 6. Their Battles with 
Marius. § 7. They enter Gaul. § 8. Cajsar and Ariovistus. § 9. Csesar 
crosses the Rhine. § 10. Caesar's Account of the Germans. § 11. Their 
Wars with Rome. § 1 2. Drusus and Tiberius. § 1 3. Arminius. § 14. Ger- 
manicus. § 15. Fall of Arminius and Maioboduus. § 16. The Germans 
desci-ibed by Tacitus. § 17. Their Political Institutions. § 18. Personal 
Allegiance. § 19. Their Religion. § 20. Compared with that of the 
Northmen. § 21. Roman Influence among the Germans. § 22. Cities 
and Trade. § 23. Germans in the Imperial Armies. § 24. The First Ger- 
man Kingdoms. § 25. The Goths. § 20. The Allemanni, Thuringii, Bur- 
gundii, Saxons, and Franks. § 27. Weakness of the Empire; Strength of 
the Germans. 

§ I. The name Germany is familiar to us as that of a large 
tract of country in Central Europe. But history properly 
deals with peoples, not with lands, and, in tracing the growth, 
character, and achievements of a race, must follow them 
wherever they go. The Germans first became known to us 
as the most restless, migratory, and aggressive of men ; and, 
before they attained a permanent social organization, they had 
already wielded a potent influence and sown the seeds of lini- 
illess good or evil to come in every part of Western Europe, 

B 



2 HISTORY OF GERMAxNY. Book I. 

from Gibraltar and the British Channel to Constantinople 
and the Baltic Sea. Nor would an account of the race at 
the present day be complete if confined even to the vast em- 
pire they have just founded, hailing it as the fulfillment of 
the passionate desire of their long disintegrated race for 
unity; since at least one fourth of them, retaining all their 
national characteristics, and even their ancient language, are 
building up new Germanies beyond its borders. Nearly a 
million of Germans are among the most enterprising subjects 
of the Czar of Russia ; at least four millions of people of 
their blood are already planted in America, and are weekly 
receiving additions ; and more than nine millions of them 
obey the dynasty whose supremacy is the only bond of union 
among the discordant races of Austria and Hungary. In 
fact, the Germans, as a whole, have never yet attained the or- 
ganic unity which is commonly implied by the word nation, 
but they have been almost always distracted between rival 
creeds and among many rival governments. But there is 
one important sense in which German history has a unity of 
its own, such as belongs to the history of no other highly 
civilized race or nation. Here and nowhere else do we find 
a vast people, whose annals lie before us from the times of 
their heathen barbarism to their attainment of a foremost 
place among enlightened nations, without such an intermixt- 
ure of foreign blood at any time as to affect the identity of 
the race, or to force upon it a revolution in language, man- 
ners and customs, or religion. Though the most obstinately 
disintegrated of all races in their political institutions, yet, in 
the historical development of their social and intellectual life, 
the- Germans have been the most independent and the most 
vmiformly progressive of all. This fact gives to their history 
a unity of a higher kind than that which depends on the con- 
tinuous supremacy of one dynasty, or even on the continuous 
development of one series of political institutions. Surely 
no study can be more instructive than that of the growth of 
a great nation, whose own internal strength has impelled it 
forward and sustained it for two thousand years against im- 
measurable hinderances, and often along the verge of utter 
ruin, until it has achieved the foremost place among the nations 
of Europe in military power and political influence, as well 



Chap. I. ORIGIN OF THE GERMAN RACE. 3 

as in science, art, literature, and general intelligence. Such 
is the growth which this work is an endeavor to sketch. 

§ 2. All speculations upon the origin of the German tribes, 
their relations to other branches of the Arian race, and the 
routes by which they reached Europe, belong to the sciences 
of ethnology and antiquities rather than to history. Scholars 
are agreed that the languages of the Celtic, German, and 
Sclavonic tribes, with the ancient tongues of Persia, India, 
Greece, and Italy, have enough in common to prove that they 
are but modifications or branches of one original language, 
spoken ages ago by the common ancestors of these people. 
Further, the grains cultivated by all these nations, and the 
domesticated animals kept by them all, are known to have 
had their native homes in Asia. On these grounds, together 
with what tradition tells us of the course of rhigrations in 
early days, it seems certain that the fathers of the Arian races 
once lived in the highlands of Central Asia. There are philo- 
logical reasons for believing that, before their dispersion, they 
were shepherds and herdsmen, possessed of horses, cattle, 
sheep and swine, and of our common barn-yard fowls ; fond 
of the chase, and accustomed to kill for food many kinds of 
game ; with little knowledge even of the rudiments of agri- 
culture, gathering a few sorts of grain which grew wild around 
them. Above all, they had the family, formed of the man 
with one wife and their children. Their religious notions 
were as simple as their manners. The vast forces and the 
grand recurring phenomena of nature: the sky, the wind, 
storm, and lightning ; the sea, the night, the dawn — all these 
were referred directly to the will and power of superior be- 
ings, and honored as divine. 

§ 3. But history first finds tlie Arian race in later ages, 
when its branches had not only wandered far away from one 
another and from their first home, but had formed each a dis- 
tinct national or race character for itself, and attained very 
different degrees of civilization. It was near the Christian 
era when the Germans began to be known to the Romans, 
then the rulers of the civilized world. Herodotus speaks of 
a Persian tribe of " Gerraanii " in his time, but does not de- 
scribe them, and there is no evidence to connect them with 
the European Germans of later centuries. Long befoi'e the 



4 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

date of authentic tradition, Avian tribes occupied the two 
peninsulas of Southern Europe, and there they achieved all 
that Greek and Roman history reports to us. Much later 
the Celts moved westward ; and after the fifth century before 
Christ were active as nomadic plunderers, invading Italy and 
the rich provinces on the Danube. But they had no political 
organization, and constantly quarreled among themselves. 
In the second century before Christ they were crushed by the 
Romans and the Germans. Only remnants of the race now 
cling to the rocks of the Atlantic coast, in Brittany, Wales, 
and Ireland. 

§ 4. The Germans were doubtless the last of the Arian races 
to reach Western Europe. They probably came across the 
vast region which is now Russia, and took possession first of 
Scandinavia' and of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea; 
then entered Germany from the northeast, and gradually 
drove before them the Celts, who throughout the great his- 
toric period of Greece had been supreme in Central Europe. 
The first recorded notice of any of the German tribes is that 
of the Teutons and Guthons on the Baltic coast, where they 
were visited by Pytheas of Massilia, in the time of Alexander 
the Great. It is curious that the ancient historians did not 
believe the reports of Pytheas. Polybius thinks it impossible 
that he coxald ever have made the voyages he describes, and 
Strabo expressly and often calls him a liar. But time has 
shown that many of his accounts are too accurate not to have 
been founded on personal observation. Thus it is in the lat- 
ter part of the fourth century before Christ that we first hear 
of Germans in Europe. But within a few generations after- 
ward they had not only occupied the whole of Germany, but 
had entirely forgotten their ancient migrations. The Ger- 
mans, when the Romans became acquainted with them, re- 
garded themselves as children of heroes who had been born 
of the gods upon the soil they tilled. There were at that time 
at least forty independent tribes of them, with no political bond 
of union among them. But they had a well-marked national 
physiognomy ; their language, their religion, and their customs 
in administering justice were the same; and they preserved 
a vague tradition of their common descent from one general 
father, Tuisco, whose tliree grandsons, sons of " Mannus," had 



Chap. I. THE GERMANS INVADE EUROPE. 6 

given their names to the three great divisions of the race, the 
Istaevones, the Ingaevones, and the Hermiones. These tliree 
principal stems correspond roughly to the Franks, to the Sax- 
ons and Lombards, and to the Allemanni and Swabians of 
later times ; but seem not to include the Thuringians, Bava- 
rians, Burgundians, and some smaller tribes. The national 
name " German," given to the whole race by Csesar and Tac- 
itus, means " shouters in battle," and is parallel to Homer's 
favorite epithet of Menelaus, "good at the war-cry." The 
name "Deutsche," by which the Germans, since the ninth 
century, have called themselves and their language, is prob- 
ably derived from that of their divine ancestor, Tuisco. 

§ 5. After the end of the Punic Wars, the Romans were 
masters of the countries upon the Mediterranean Sea; that is, 
of the then known world. As they set out from the Alps, the 
wall that shut in Italy, and went westward and northward 
to subdue the Celts, they unexpectedly fell in with the Ger- 
mans, who were engaged in the same work. The first German 
tribe they met was the Cimbri (i. e., warriors, cliampions, or, 
as the Romans interpreted it, robbers). It is uncertain whence 
they came; but at that time (b.c. 113) they were in motion, 
pressing hard upon the Scordisci, a Celtic tribe dwelling in 
Noricum, east of the Alps, and were striving to subdue or to 
break through them. This was the first time the Romans 
saw that wonderful phenomenon, a migrating nation — a whole 
vast people, who have taken up their goods, and abandoned 
their country, to go out into the wide world in search of bet- 
ter homes. The Celts now called for help on Papirius Carbo, 
the Roman consul, who thought this new enemy too strong to 
fight with any arms but treachery. lie pretended friendship 
for the Cimbri, and then suddenly fell upon them at night. 
But they rallied with full vigor and self-possession, and utter- 
ly defeated him at Noreja (now Klagenfurth, in Carinthia). 
They then advanced Avestward along the Alps, entered Gaul, 
defeated four more consular armies (b.c. 109-105), laid waste 
the whole country from the Rhone to the Pyrenees, and final- 
ly invaded Spain, where, however, they were successfully 
resisted. The " Cimbrian panic " went before them, and Rome 
shook with terror at their name, as of old at that of Brennus 
or Hannibal. For all that was told of them was strange and 



6 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book 1. 

fearful. Their tense and active frames, of giant size, witli 
their fair locks — boys with the hair of old men, the Italians 
said — with bold blue eyes, and unequaled strength, were a 
new wonder of the world. They wore brazen mail and gleam- 
ing white shields, and helmets shaped like the heads of un- 
known beasts of prey, with horribly distended jaws. For a 
missile, they carried a double-pointed spear; but in a hand- 
to-hand fight they used long, heavy swords,* Even the wom- 
en seemed to be warriors ; at least they followed the men into 
the field with shouts of encouragement. Some of them, in 
white linen, officiated as priestesses, cutting the throats of 
prisoners of war over a brass vessel, and finding portents in 
the flowing blood. Tui'ning back again from the Pyrenees 
toward the north, these Cimbri joined the Teutons, another 
German tribe, then spreading westward across the lower part 
of the Rhine. The united tiibes now demanded from the 
Romans land on which to settle, but the Romans really had 
none to give. Unable to stay longer in Gaul, which they had 
laid waste, the tribes, now too numerous to move together, 
parted again, but undertook by a concerted plan to make a 
. simultaneous attack on Italy. The Teutons preferred to fol- 
low the i-oad along the coast, entering Italy south of the Mar- 
itime Alps, while the Cimbri chose the way by the passes of 
the Eastern Alps. It was still land that they wanted — land 
in which to settle, and to establish permanent homes. They 
did not seek booty; they avoided the most thickly settled 
and the richest parts of Italy ; they even destroyed the horses 
and armor of the men they slew in battle. Their aim was to 
find a country in which they and their herds and flocks could 
live in plenty; but without a thought of "glory" or of em- 
pire, 

§ 6. Cains Marius, the son of the day-laborer of Arpinum, 
the conqueror of Jugurtha, was the only fit man Rome could 
find to meet such a danger. He was now consul for the fourth 
time, and had taken up his position near Aries, in the prov- 
ince of Gaul, to guard the main entrance into Italy. By 
years of exercise and service, he had accustomed his troops to 
the old Roman discipline, and had steeled them against panic 
before the barbarians. Now that the Teutons undertook 
* Plutarch's Life of Marias. 



Chap. I. WARS WITH ROME. 7 

to make their way to Rome, passing by his well-guarded 
camp, he pursued them, and fell on them with such vigor, at 
the warm springs called Aquse Sextiie (now Aix, near Mar- 
seilles), that their whole host of two hundred thousand was de- 
stroyed (December, b.c. 102). He then, in the fifth year of his 
consulship, betook himself to Italy. The Cimbri meanwhile 
made an irruption by the valley of the Etsch, defeated the 
consul Marcellus, and had already spent a year in the plains 
north of the Po before Marius reached them, with an increased 
Roman army. In a bloody battle at Vercellae he destroyed 
their forces, which were drawn up against him in a square, 
with a side of three miles and a half (July 30, b.c. 101). In 
their last desperate struggles, the German women showed the 
same invincible spirit and passion for liberty as the men. At 
Aquae Sextise they offered to surrender to the Romans, if per- 
mitted to become the slaves of the vestal virgins ; but when 
this was refused, they resisted to the last, and then, in de- 
spair, th^y slew their children and themselves. The Romans 
long remembered their terrible foe, and the countrymen of 
Marius were not far wrong in hailing him, after these victo- 
ries, as " the third founder of Rome." 

§ 7. During these twelve years of war the Romans esti- 
mated that half a million of the Germans had been destroyed 
by them ; yet, in the great and general movement of the 
German race to the westward, the Cimbri and the Teutons 
were but the bold pioneers whom new hordes weit- soon to 
follow. More than forty years, indeed, were now spent by 
the Roman Republic in party contentions and civil wars be- 
fore its warriors again met the Germans on the soil of Gaul, 
the land they both claimed. Meanwhile the Germans pressed 
steadily forward toward the Rhine, and across it. They en- 
croached on the Ilelvetii, a Celtic tribe, in the Alpine terri- 
tory, and the Lower Rhine was no longer a barrier to them. 
South of it, the fruitful Belgian races, formed by a mixture 
of Germans and Celts, occupied the country as far as the 
Seine and the Marne. These Avandering hordes of Germans, 
known as Suevi (wanderers), forced their way over the Rhine 
farther to the south, and entered Gaul ; not suddenly, indeed, 
but in successive bodies, until their number increased there 
from 15,000 (b.c. 59) to 120,000 men (b.c. 57). At their head 



8 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

was Ariovistus, a warrior king, who, once invited into the 
rich, attractive land by factions arnong its own inhabitants, 
now aimed at its complete conquest. 

§ 8. This was the situation at the time (b.c. 58) whenCaius 
Julius Cffisar went to Gaul to seek conquest, fame, and the fut- 
ure mastery of the whole empire of Rome. The^dui, the peo- 
ple next threatened by the Germans, invoked his protection 
against Ariovistus. With true Roman pride, Caesar, resolved 
that the Germans should not gradually accustom themselves 
to cross the Rhine, and perhaps renew the danger which Italy 
had incurred from the Cimbri, summoned the German com- 
mander to appear before him as his judge. With pride 
equal to Caesar's, Ariovistus replied that " when he needed 
Caesar he would go to Caesar ; but meanwhile Caesar might 
come to him : and what business had Caesar or Rome in his 
part of Gaul which he had conquered in war." No such lan- 
guage had been addressed to a Roman consul for centuries. 
The only appeal was to arms. But, like Marius, Caesar had 
need of all his cunning and presence of mind to induce his 
troops to light these terrible Germans, whose very bearing 
and look, the Gauls insisted, were insupportable in battle. 
It was rather by a surprise than by victory in the open field 
that Caesar then overcame Ariovistus on the banks of the 
Little Doller, in Upper Alsace, and drove the Suevi down the 
111 and across the Rhine. But the Triboci, the Nemetes, and 
the Vangiovi, left behind by the Suevi, accepted Ca3sar's 
moderate terms; and he assigned them a home on the left 
bank of the Rhine, between that river and the Vosges Mount- 
ains, that they might be a barrier of Rome against their coun- 
trymen. 

§ 9. During the next eight years (b.c. 58-50) the Gauls and 
Belgians were subdued, and thus all the other German tribes 
which had crossed the Lower Rhine became subject to Rome ; 
as did the Ubii, who set up their principal place of worship 
(ara Ubiorum) where Cologne now stands. The Nervii were 
overcome in a hard-fought battle, one of Caesar's most ftxmous 
achievements. The Tenchteri and Usipetes, who had, in part, 
been driven across the Rhine by the Suevi, were destroyed 
by Caesar with Roman faithlessness. A mere remnant of 
them survived, and afterward occupied the right bank of the 



Chap. I. C^SAR DESCRIBES THE GERMANS. 9 

Rhine from the Lahn to the Yssel. These victories encour- 
aged Caesar twice to bridge the Rhine (b.c. 55 and 58), and he 
was thus the first Roman captain to cross that lordly river. 
But he ventured no farther into the wooded and to him in- 
hospitable region beyond. Gaul had submitted ; but for a 
long time the Rhine remained the acknowledged boundary 
between the Roman possessions and the free Germans. 

§ 10. Caesar's own writings give the earliest trustworthy 
account of the land and its inhabitants. He was the first to 
distinguish the Germans from the Celts. He praises their 
warlike strength, their endurance, their hospitality, and their 
pure morals. Of the interior of their land, he describes the 
great " Hercynian forest," stretching indefinitely eastward 
from the Upper Rhine toward Bohemia; and the Bacenis 
forest, including the Hartz Mountains and the territory be- 
tween them and the Rivers Rhine and Main. He tells of 
wonderful and fabulous wild beasts which lived in this Avil- 
derness. But his descriptions of the government and social 
life of the people apply chiefly to the Suevi, with whom his 
intercourse was most direct. These tribes were still unsettled, 
and individual ownership of the soil was unknown to them ; 
the whole of the land they occupied being the property of 
the community. It was cultivated a part at a time, the rest 
lying fallow. Half of the men took their turn at the work, 
while the rest went forth for war and conquest. They thought 
it both honorable and safe to lay waste on all sides a broad 
tract of the country bordering on them. But besides such 
tribes as these, there were doubtless already others in the 
north and northwest of Germany which lived a settled and 
widely diflferent life ; yet the mass of the German tribes in 
Caesar's time were probably in a transition state, between 
the wild and wanton career of the migrating Teutons and 
Cimbri, and the fixed homes and settled customs attained by 
their posterity. 

§ 11. The Romans soon came into contact with the inhab- 
itants of the interior of Germany. Julius Caesar fell by the 
assassin's dagger, and once more civil war divided the Ro- 
man world. Finally Octavius Caesar, now called Augustus, 
reaped the harvest sown by his uncle, obtained a sovereignty 
without a rival, and founded the empire. This huge mon- 



10 HlfeTOKY OF GERMANY. Book L 

archy began to set its provinces in order, and to secure its 
boundaries. The general result of the wars with the Ger- 
mans was that Rome had control of all the territories west 
of the Rhine, or south of the Danube. The Germans had 
settled along the left bank of the Rhine from Upper Alsace 
to the sea, and this strip .of land, pompously called Roman 
Germany, was incorporated into the province of Gaul. It was 
divided by the Moselle into Upper and Lower Germany. The 
country between the mouths of the Rhine, called the Island 
of the Batavians, was also subject to the Empire. South of 
the Danube were the three provinces Rhsetia (including Vin- 
delicia), Noricum, and Pannonia, inhabited by Celtic tribes, 
which had been subdued by Drusus and Tiberius, step-sons 
of Augustus. But nearly all the vast territory east of the 
Rhine and north of the Danube was free, and this was known 
as " Germania Magna," or " Barbara." The Romans fortified 
both rivers to protect their provinces ; and these military 
works were the origin of Bingen, Bonn and Neuss on the 
Rhine, and of Regensburg (Ratisbon) on the Danube. Only 
the Tenchteri and Usipetes, on the east bank of the Rhine, 
and the Ubii, who occupied both banks, obeyed the Romans. 
The chief place of the Ubii was made a Roman colony, and 
received the name " Colonia Claudia Agrippina," in honor 
of Agrippina, Nero's mother. It became the capital of Lower 
Germany, and is still called Cologne. All the Germans east 
of these were free. The Frisii held the sea-coast from the 
Rhine to the Eras, and the Chauci (" strong and upright men, 
of giant stature," the Romans call them) from the Ems east- 
ward. The Bructeri and the Marsi occupied the lowlands 
on the Lippe, and thence to the sources of the Ems. South 
of them came the Sigambri, a tribe kindred to the Marsi, in 
the region where the Rivers Ruhr, Sieg, and Eder take their 
rise, and extending to the Rhine. East of these, in the coun- 
try now known as Hesse, were the obstinate and warlike 
Chatti — perhaps the very Suevi of Ariovistus, now become a 
settled people. The Angrivarii dwelt in the flat country 
between the Weser and the Aller; and southeast of them, 
reaching from the Weser to the east side of the Hartz Mount- 
ains, were the Cherusci, then the mightiest tribe of all. Be- 
yond these, in the Thuringian forest and onward to the 



Chap. I. CAMPAIGNS OF DRUSUS. 11 

Danube, dwelt the Hermunduri, who soon entered into friend- 
ly relations with the neighboring Romans. 

All these German tribes had settled abodes, and are clear- 
ly distinguished from the wandering tribes, or Suevi, to the 
south and east, already described by Coesar. Among them 
the Langobardi, west of the Lower Elbe, were famed for their 
bravery ; and the Seranones, on the Rivers Havel and Spree, 
for their strength and stature. In what is now Mecklenburg, 
on the coast, were the Vinili; beyond the Oder the Rugii; 
and farther on, about the mouths of the Vistula, the Goth- 
ones. The Burgundii possessed the region southward, upon 
the Warthe and the Netz. Beyond these the Marcomanni 
(i. e., " march-men," or " border-warriors") were the most im- 
portant of the Suevian races toward the Danube. Under 
their general, Maroboduus, they invaded and conquered the 
land of the Celtic Boii, now Bohemia ; and there Maroboduus 
established his government over them, in obvious imitation 
of the Roman emperors. This kingdom of Maroboduus was 
extended from the Danube to the Vistula and the Elbe, and 
is memorable as the first attempt ever made to found a large 
state among the German tribes. A large number of lesser 
tribes (Silingi and others) occupied the region of the Upper 
Oder and Vistula, and on to the borders of the Sclavic Sar- 
matians ; while the Quadi dwelt in what is now Moravia, 
and in the adjoining parts of Hungary. 

§ 12. The names and abodes of these German tribes grad- 
ually became known to the Romans after Csfisar's time. 
When the Empire under Augustus acquired strength and 
consistency, the Romans entered upon a war of subjugation, 
in which the divisions and strifes of the Germans promised 
them an easy success. Drusus, the step-son of Augustus, as- 
sumed the chief command on the Rhine (b.c. 12-9). He con- 
nected that river with the Zuyder Zee by a canal ; formed 
an alliance Avith the Batavi and Frisii, and attacked the Bruc- 
teri both by land and water — his fleet sailing up the Ems, 
while his army marched up the bank of the Lippe (b.c. 12). 
Yet his campaign accomplished little. The next year he es- 
tablished a fortified camp at Aliso, near the Lippe, and march- 
ed across the Weser against the Cherusci (b.c. 11). There he 
secured a fixed base for future operations (b.c. 10) by placing 



12 HISTORY OF GERMANY, Book I. 

fortresses along the Rhine, from Mayence (Mogontiacum) to 
Xanten (Castra Vetera), and setting out from the Main (b.c. 9), 
he forced his way, first to Werra, then to the eastward of the 
Hartz Mountains, and even to the Elbe. This was the end 
of his march ; as the story goes, a female giant, the guardian 
genius of the land, appeared to him, with a warning against 
advancing farther, and terrified him by predicting his speedy 
death. On the retreat he died, aged but thirty years. His 
brother, the cunning Tiberius, succeeded to his command. 
This prince knew how to make use of the civil dissensions 
among the Germans, and to ply them with all the charms of 
Roman power and luxury, so that he soon made himself master 
of all the Germans between the Rhine and the Elbe. Roman 
markets and Roman settlers soon made their appearance in 
German territory, and Roman merchants traversed it in all 
directions. German princes entered the Roman service, and 
there learned the arts of war and of statesmanship. By an 
infamous breach of faith, Tiberius succeeded in transplanting 
40,000 Sigambri from the interior of Germany to the mouths 
of the Rhine ; then, being ordered into Germany by the em- 
peror, he marched from Italy against Maroboduus. This 
king had collected a force of 70,000 foot and 4000 horse, had 
subdued the Suevian tribes up to the borders of the Semnones 
and the Langobards, and was growing dangerous to the Ro- 
man Empire, to which he had hitherto professed subjection. 
Tiberius was on the march to attack him, when he was called 
away by an insurrection of the tribes on the Lower Danube. 
§ 13. Meanwhile Quintilius Varus, who had now succeeded 
to the command formerly held by Tiberius, treated North 
Germany as a subjugated province. He substituted the Ro- 
man system of law for that of the country, and set in opera- 
tion all the arts of oppression which he had formerly practiced 
among the servile Syrians. By this conduct, the popular 
indignation and the defiant spirit of liberty were slowly but 
terribly aroused, and the people found an avenger in Armin- 
ius (or Hermann), the son of Segiraer, a young prince of the 
Cherusci. He was but twenty-five years of age, and had a 
commanding presence, a bold hand, and a ready mind. In 
the service of Rome he had learned Roman warfare and cun- 
ning. He now prepared for an insurrection of the North- 



Chap. I. THE LEGIONS OF VARUS DESTROYED. 13 

German tribes — the Bructeri, Marsi, Angrivarii, and Chatti, 
but especially of his own tribe, the Cherusci. Maroboduus 
was invited to join them, but kept out of the plot, though he 
had recently been threatened by the Romans. Varus mean- 
while lay securely in his camp on the Weser, disregarding 
the warning of Segestes, a prince of the Cherusci, who, out 
of personal hatred to Arminius, betrayed the scheme. When 
the conspiracy was complete, a small and remote tribe, as 
had been agreed, first raised the standard of revolt. Varus 
marched to put it down, even permitting Arminius, with Ger- 
man auxiliaries, to go with him. But in the pathless Teuto- 
burg forest, near where Detmold now is, and in the midst of 
a frightful storm, the entire mass of the confederates sud- 
<lenly surrounded him. The Romans withstood for two days 
the fury of their German foes, amidst rain and wind, and 
the dangers of the unknown, almost impenetrable thicket. 
On the first night they still encamped according to their mil- 
itary rules ; but on the second, it was with difiiculty that 
they found any resting-place ; and before the third came on, 
they Avere hopelessly beaten, and the best three legions of 
Rome had lost their eagles. Varus fell upon his own sword 
(a.d. 9). The rage of the conquerors was wreaked, without 
moderation, on the prisoners, especially on the Roman advo- 
cates, who were savagely mutilated. Augustus, now an old 
man, was in terror. Neglecting his dress and person, he is 
said to have wandered about his palace, crying out piteously, 
" Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions !" Rome trem- 
bled with him in fear of an attack from the Germans. 

§ 14. But the Germans had as yet no organization, and 
there was no motive strong enough to hold them together, 
except the pressing necessity of union in throwing off the 
Roman yoke. When this was done, though but temporarily 
and imperfectly, the tribes again fell apart. Even while it 
lasted, this coalition of free tribes imder Arminius in the 
north could not be united in policy with the kingdom of 
Maroboduus in the south. Thus the power of the Germans 
was still divided ; and Germanicus, the son of Drusus, formed 
the hope of restoring victory to the Roman arms. Setting 
out from the Rhine (a.d. 14), he invaded the land of the Mar- 
si, cut to pieces an unarmed throng assembled at a festival, 



14 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

and destroyed their sanctuary. He next attacked the Chatti 
and Cherusci (a.d. 15), and, reaching the scene of the defeat 
of Varus, gave due burial to the bones of his countrymen 
which lay bleaching there. Meanwhile Thusnelda, whom 
Arminius, soon after his victory over Varus, carried off from 
the house of her father, Segestes, and married, was taken 
prisoner again by her father, and carried to the Roman 
camp. But Arminius brought his wrongs before the peo- 
ple, crying out that his wife and his unborn child had been 
sold into slavery; and at once the Cherusci, Chatti, and 
Bructeri rose in a body, so that the Roman army, on its re- 
turn, narrowly escaped the fate of Varus. The next year 
(a.d, 16) Germanicus marched up his father's canal to the 
Weser, and defeated Arminius east of that river in two bat- 
tles, at Idistavisus ("Maiden's Meadow," near Minden) and 
at the Steinhuder Lake. But he had lost heavily, and thought 
it prudent to retire. He still had to meet, with his enormous 
fleet of a thousand boats, the terrors of the North Sea, where 
a large part of his force perished. Soon afterward, Tiberius, 
who succeeded Augustus as emperor (a.d. 14-37), recalled 
Germanicus, and he died in Asia. 

§ 15. This was the last effort of Rome to subdue Germany 
by force. The policy of Tiberius was to use bribery and cun- 
ning, to foster the mutual jealousies of rival families and 
tribes, and thus to extend Roman influence by policy rather 
than by arms. His plan proved far more successful than the 
violence of his predecessors. Roman fortresses and colonies 
arose in many places, especially along the rivers and high- 
ways of trade; the Germans became accustomed to peaceful 
commerce and intercourse Avith the Romans, and to the pres- 
ence of Roman troops among them, and gradually began to 
serve in the Roman armies. They retained their own local 
laws and customs, and justice was administered by their own 
officers ; but the influence of the Empire outweighed the pow- 
er of their own rulers. The Romans had not long ceased to 
threaten Germany with conquest, when the two great lead- 
ers, Maroboduus and Arminius, quarreled. The former, in- 
deed, had taken no part or interest in the war of the Cherusci 
for freedom, and thus offended the Langobardi and Semnones, 
who sympathized strongly with their khidred in danger. 



Chap. I. FALL OF ARMINIUS. 15 

These tribes revolted IVora Maroboduns, who retired to Bo- 
hemia, after a bloody but indecisive battle in Saxony. At 
the instigation -of the Romans, who improved every opportu- 
nity to embitter the Germans against one another, he was 
driven out of his kingdom (a.d. 19), and took refuge in Ra- 
venna, under the protection of Tiberius. Arminius was trai- 
torously slain by his own kindred, at the age of thirty-seven, 
twelve years after his victory over Varus. By the testimony 
of his Roman foes, he was undeniably the liberator of Ger- 
many ; and he was perhaps the first man who ever conceived 
the hope of German unity. But his death destroyed the last 
bond of union among the tribes of Northern Germany. Ar- 
minius was celebrated for ages afterward in the heroic songs 
of his own people as a champion of independence; and his 
name holds an imperishable place in literature as the symbol 
of the aspirations of the German race for freedom. It is free- 
dom from external conquerors, however, that he represents ; 
and Shelley's imagination transcends the facts when it holds 
up this barbarous warrior king as the champion of the liber- 
ties of the people against monai'chs : 

"Tomb of Arminius ! render up thy dead — 

Till, like a standard from a watch-tower's staff, 
His soul may stream over the tyrant's head I 

Thy victory shall be his epitaph. 
Wild bacchanal of truth's mysterious wine, 
King-deluded Germany, 
His dead spirit lives in thee ! 
Why do we fear or hope ? Thou art already free !" 

The Cherusci afterward wasted away in Avar with the Chat- 
ti, and these again in war with the Hermunduri. The Bruc- 
teri, too, perished in a similar civil strife. But German mer- 
cenaries now formed the core of the Roman legions, and once 
more they threw Italy into terror, under the Emperor Vitel- 
lius (a.d. 69). At the same time the Batavi on the Lower 
Rhine, who had hitherto been subject to Rome, revolted, 
under a bold general, Claudius Civilis, and in league with the 
Frisii, Bructeri, and Tenchteri. The allies were guided by the 
counsel of a Bructerian prophetess, named Velleda, and their 
plan was to drive the Romans out of German Gaul. For a 
time there was a prospect of uniting the Germans in this 



16 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

effort. Claudius marched victoriously far into Gaul, and was 
only repulsed by the freshly reinforced Roman army of Ves- 
pasian. 

§ 16. Soon after this time, about the year a.d. 100, the 
accurate Roman historian, Cornelius Tacitus, wrote his " Ger- 
mania." This little treatise is one of the most precious works 
in what remains to us of Latin literature. It condenses into 
the smallest compass a large number of facts concerning the 
appearance, life, character, and manners of the early Ger- 
mans, and is the chief source of information on the subject. 
There can be little doubt that much of what Tacitus wrote 
of the Germans was the fruit of his personal observation 
among them, 'In many details we can fill out his descrip- 
tions from other writers ; but, on the whole, Tacitus is the 
one artist who has drawn for later ages the picture of this 
great race, as it was first brought into the arena of history. 
It is especially remarkable that the German national charac- 
ter, as discerned by him, has remained essentially the same 
until this day. His description of the persons and appear^ 
ance of the Germans entirely agrees with Caesar's. Accord- 
ing to Tacitus, that which divides them on the east from the 
Sarmatians, the Sclavic tribes who were the last of the Arians 
to reach Europe, is not so much a natural boundary as " mut- 
ual fear." To the southern observer the land seems to be an 
unconquered forest impenetrable to sunbeams, and a hope- 
less swamp ; yet agriculture was already universal. Rye 
and barley were cultivated, but the nobler crops were still 
wanting. The mountains contained more iron than gold and 
silver. The land was no longer altogether a common pos- 
session ; but the soil had already, in part, become the prop- 
erty of the individual freeman, and the citizens, who were 
such only by virtue of their interest in the land, were dis- 
tinguished by their proud and independent spirit. They dis- 
liked inclosed villages, and especially walled towns, which 
seemed to them prisons, yet they sometimes surrounded a 
strong place with wall and ditch as a refuge. Every pro- 
prietor set along his borders block-houses, built firmly and 
strongly of trunks of trees, and the gables washed with lime. 
He cultivated his land by the labor of slaves, or received 
contributions from his dependents. For himself, war and the 



Chap. I. THE GERMANS DESCRIBED BY TACITUS. 17 

chase, or idleness, wei'e the only occupations worthy of a 
freeman. The land abounded in game, and most of the cloth- 
ing was made of furs; but the women wore linen cloth, and 
gold and silver ornaments were not uncommon among the 
rich. The people held sacred their home life, and especially 
the marriage tie, which was formed by the man oiFering to 
the maiden, not gold, bat a steed, a yoke of oxen, and arms. 
The woman then lived in high honor, not only as the lady 
and mistress of the household, but as the companion, coun- 
selor, and friend of her husband. The German even found 
in her something to reverence as sacred and prophetic. The 
women would often accompany the army as it marched out 
to battle, and their shouts fired the soldiers' hearts. The 
children of freemen .^^id of slaves grew up together, until the 
riglit of bearing arms distinguished the freeman. Their arms 
consisted of the terrible spear or lance csdled framea, which 
they threw to an incredible distance, and of swords, long 
lances, axes, clubs, and bows and arrows. Their shields were 
of wood, painted with gaudy colors. They had also horsemen 
clad in armor, while the footmen, who were mingled with them 
in the fight, were without coats of mail. They formed for bat- 
tle in a wedge, in which they were arrayed according to fam- 
ily and district, each tribe having the figure of some wild beast 
borne before it as its standard. Before the fight they struck 
lip their Barrit, or battle-song. It was no disgrace to give 
way, but the warrior must not lose his shield. They had no 
temples, but prayed to the gods in groves and forests; nor 
had they, like the Celts, a professional priesthood, but, in the 
ancient Arian fashion, the father exercised the priestly office 
for his household, and the nobleman for his clan and district, 
by oflferings and invocations to the gods. But there were 
many religious customs : lots were cast, the flight of birds 
watched, the neighing of horses carefully listened to as por- 
tents ; and the result of a battle was predicted according to 
that of a previously arranged combat. Similar regard was 
paid to days and seasons, new moon and full moon. The great 
virtues of the people — bravery, chastity, truth, and hospital- 
ity — were shadowed only by the vices of drunkenness and 
gambling ; but even in these practices their invincible pluck, 
and their delicate sense of lionor, extorted admiration. They 

C 



18 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book 1. 

had, besides, an invincible passion for unbridled freedom, or 
rather willfulness, which did much to incapacitate them for 
regular labor or for discipline, and to confine their exertions 
to war and the chase. 

§ 17. Such, in outline, is the description Tacitus gives of 
the early Germans. But, to make the picture complete, we 
must obtain from other sources a view of their social and 
public life, in which every freeman took part. The whole 
organization of society grew out of that obstinate and pas- 
sionate independence of spirit which was the most prominent 
feature of the national character. The individual must be. 
independent of his family, and. would not brook any intermed- 
dling by it with his private affairs. The family must be in- 
dependent of the tribe or district, while protecting each of its 
members against all attacks from without ; and this passion 
for independence extended itself also to the tribe and to the 
whole nation when threatened by strangers, while it offered 
an almost insuperable barrier to any permanent political union 
among the men, families, or tribes of the Germans them- 
selves. However strong the pressure, and however close the 
union for the time, it was at once disintegrated when the 
pressure was removed. This was perhaps the most universal 
and obvious characteristic of the Germans every where, as 
distinguished from the nations around them, all of which had 
as much more readiness for organization, guidance and union, 
as they had less of individual spirit and energy. Besides 
the freemen, who in these respects were on an equality, they 
had their " Edelings," or nobility, but these did not consti- 
tute a distinct and privileged caste. It was but their great- 
er estates, and the greater consequence which accompanied 
these, that marked their rank. The most intimate and sa- 
cred bond of union was that of family (sippe) ; in this each 
member found his protection and guaranty, and by this he 
was vindicated when injured, and avenged when slain. Yet 
the trespasser might make peace with the aggrieved family, 
in the presence of the community, by paying a ransom (were- 
geld), and the terrible custom of the avenger of blood was 
thus mitigated. This system of atoning for crime by the 
payment of a definite sum of money is the prominent feat- 
ure in the ancient German codes of laws ; and it exercised a 



Chap. I. PUBLIC LIFE OF THE GERMANS. 19 

potent influence, by no means for good, upon their social life. 
The freemen, proprietors of land in any neighborhood, formed 
among themselves the canton, or association of the marches 
(pagus, markgenossenschaft), which held all the land, wheth- 
er wood, meadow, or moor, not appropriated to any private 
owner, under the name of commons (or alraend). This as- 
sociation als9 met in assembly, to decide upon legal questions 
of right and law. It was the most influential form in which 
the social life of the people expressed itself The cattle of 
its members formed one herd ; their cultivated lands, one 
unbroken field. They fought together in the armies, and 
voted together in the great assemblies of the tribe. A cer- 
tain number of these associations constituted a district (gau), 
which usually had natural features of the land for its bound- 
aries ; while each hundred associations (or heads of families) 
formed a hundred^ with a count at its head. The general 
assembly of the people, in each of the cantons and districts, 
came together at fixed times, especially at new or full moon, 
and usually on some consecrated mountain or plain. Here 
all the freemen took counsel together, under the presidency 
of a king, or of the prince of the district ; and under the ad- 
vice of the priests or nobility. Every man came in his ar- 
mor. Here questions of war and peace were decided. Young 
freemen, on reaching manhood, were by the stroke of the 
sword made capable of bearing arms and of managing their 
own aftaii's; and judgments were given upon life and prop- 
erty. Here, too, were chosen, by the whole people, out of 
the noble houses, the princes who should hold, usually for 
life, the office of leader and judge in the districts. It was 
the ancestral custom that tlie judges should sit in the open 
air, in the public court or place of assembly (mall), surround- 
ed by assessors or jurymen. But it does not appear that 
these assemblies were ever regarded as having the power to 
condemn a freeman to death, or to any bodily injury or re- 
straint. No judicial power existed among the early Ger- 
mans which could invade the absolute sanctity of the man's 
person, the first principle of their social institutions, which 
lay deep in their character. A private injury, were it even 
murdei', was an offense to be condemned and punished, not 
by the community, but by the injured man and his family. 



20 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

It was this that gave rise to that custom of family feuds, 
and of vengeance by blood relations, which constantly re- 
vived during the Middle Ages, in spite of the laws and of the 
ablest rulers, and threw society into disorder. The general 
assembly also chose the " duke," or general, who should 
hold the chief command during a war, and at its end return 
to his former position. The choice was "finally proclaimed 
and ratified by elevating the duke on a shield upon the shoul- 
ders of the men. But, besides nobles and freemen, there 
was also another class of people, who, like women and chil- 
dren, were recognized by the law only in so far as they were 
represented by a freeman as their guardian. These people 
were of two classes : first, what was called Liti or Laten, 
freedmen or peasants, who held a jiiece of land in fee, paying- 
tribute or rendering service to the owner; the other class 
were slaves, who were regarded as subjects of barter and 
sale, and are actually spoken of as things in the ancient laws. 
They were commonly mildly treated, and held a piece of 
land and a dwelling-place assigned by their master. But they 
were mere chattels in his hands, utterly destitute of rights, 
and with no appeal from his will. He tortured them at pleas- 
ure ; and if he slew them in his anger, his only punishment 
was the loss of their services. Before the law, slaves and 
beasts were of the same class. The Liti were probably de- 
scended from the original inhabitants, who had been con- 
quered ; the slaves were mainly prisoners of war and their 
posterity. The freedmen were a* middle class between the 
freemen and the slaves. They could bear arms, and avenge 
themselves or their kindred, even against freemen, although 
the compensation (weregeld) for their lives was but half as 
great as for those of the free. But they were excluded from 
any active part in the administration of justice and in the 
public assembly, because they held their land, not freely, but 
upon condition of service and contribution. It is perhaps 
safe to assume that much more than half of the entire popu- 
lation belonged to these two classes, and were therefore with- 
out civil rights. 

§ 18. No feature of their character has more deeply influ- 
enced the history of the Germans than the peculiar disposi- 
tion to attach themselves unreservedly to others — to devote 



Chap. I. THE TIE OF PERSONAL ALLEGIANCE. 21 

themselves absolutely to the personal service of a chosen 
master. This allegiance was voluntary when assumed, but 
proved an obligation which was observed afterward like a 
conscience : it was formally and solemnly assumed, some- 
times by a mutual pledge of friendship, sometimes by a cov- 
enant of service, and afterward in feudal times by an act of 
homage; it Avas strictly personal, and was due, not to any 
community or government or family, but to individual men ; 
and the self-denial and sacrifice involved in the faithful ob- 
servance of this obligation were the pride and honor of man- 
hood. In all these respects, personal allegiance was emphat- 
ically a German idea ; and it gave new strength to the social 
ties of wedlock, of companionship, of military brotherhood 
and service. It gave a peculiar character to Christianity it- 
self. We find that the early German Christians assigned lit- 
tle prominence to the sufterings and death of Jesus, after- 
ward the favorite theme of the Church; but regarded them- 
selves as the liege-men of Christ, owing him homage and 
fealty, and bound to serve him faithfully even to death. Re- 
ligion to them was the tie which attached them to their great 
warrior King, their personal Master and Lord. Even the 
mercenary soldiers of Germany bound themselves by a sim- 
ilar tie to their Roman commanders, and the emperors, by 
acknowledging the relation, and making a few cheap pro- 
fessions of reciprocating it, easily made of them friends who 
were faithful to death. This disposition gave rise among 
the Germans to the associations (gefolgschaften) out of which 
gradually grew, in after-times, the feudal system and the 
modern monarchies. Freemen without estates, refugees from 
the avenger of blood in a family feud (called lekken), or 
younger sons left without a heritage (for the German liked 
to keep his estate together, and it commonly went to his 
eldest son), attached themselves to some nobleman's person, 
and gave themselves with unreserved devotion to his serv- 
ice. These formed his following (gasindi); he was their lord 
(heriro) and bread-giver (hlaford), and at their head made 
warlike expeditions in search of plunder, which his followers 
shared. If he had continuous good fortune, his fame grew 
great; he was called, as descended of noble blood (kuni), 
the kuning, or king; and it was even possible that sucli a 



22 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

leader should subdue au entire country. Such was generally 
the origin of a kingdom among the Germans ; the name be- 
ing given originally only to the conquered territory, where 
the king established his faithful friends as counts of hundreds 
or districts, and his inferior followers as local judges. But 
in his campaigns all these officers took their appropriate rank 
in his service. Thus, besides the free popular communities, 
there arose nations with kings. The title of king was not he- 
reditary at first; yet in choosing and inaugurating a new king, 
by elevating him on a shield, there was a tendency to cling- 
to the house which had once been consecrated to the office. 
In many a free community, too, the power of a duke, which 
was originally not a permanent office, might, in the hands 
of a rich and influential nobleman, grow to that of a king. 

Thus the ancient Germans, when their character and man- 
ners are closely examined, no longer appear like rude sav- 
ages. They work in wood, iron, cloth ; they have the plow 
to cut the soil, and the ship to traverse the waves. They 
have a peculiarly vigorous and free public life, some of the 
outlines of which have been retained by the people of the 
great German race to this day, or are now taking new life 
and strength. They have a language whose oldest traces 
are still before us in the names which point to war, victory, 
liouor, and strength; a language rich in roots and of an ad- 
mirable structure, with a full, impressive sound, and capable 
of a culture which will enable it to meet the highest wants 
of the human mind. Indeed, it seems at that time to have 
reached a high degree of development, at least for the pur- 
poses of public discussion and oratory, the freedom of speech 
in the public assemblies, and the frequent determination of 
important questions of policy by the influence of an eloquent 
speaker, stimulating its culture; and this, although the peo- 
ple's ignorance of the art of writing was probably absolute. 
But, more than all this, they possessed, in the strength of 
their character, in their personal purity, their invincible spirit 
in war and in the presence of death, and in their faithfulness 
and reverence for law, a moi'al treasure ■which was soon to 
enable them to come out of their isolation, and take their 
place in universal history, as a people who will transform it 
and renew the youth of civilization. 



Chap. I. RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GERMANS. 23 

§ 19. We have seen that tlie study of the Indo-European 
languages aftbrds some indications of the religious notions 
and worship of the ancient Arian tribes of Central Asia in 
immemorial antiquity. They personified the great forces of 
nature, whether beneficial or destructive, and worshiped them 
in the scenes to which their presence lent splendor, majesty, 
or terror. In the crude conceptions to which they liad al- 
ready given names and divine attributes, we can trace the 
germs of the systems of belief so highly cultivated long aft- 
erward in classical antiquity by the Indians, the Greeks, 
and the Romans. We can even, in many cases, identify them 
with notions still vaguely preserved among the Germans 
themselves, though not recognized by the avowed belief of 
the people, in tales and traditions of mystical lore, in magical 
doctrines and ghostly superstitions. But the direct historical 
evidence concerning the religion of the ancient Germans is 
very scanty. We know that it was most intimately incor- 
porated with the thoughts, characters, and lives of the peo- 
ple ; that their old beliefs and usages continued to be cher- 
ished for centuries after the introduction of Christianity, side 
by side with those of the purer religion. But this very fact 
embittered the hostility of the Christian teachers against the 
ancient heathenism, and stimulated their zeal to destroy ev- 
ery vestige of it. The Church felt that it was not safe while 
so mucli as a story or a song embodying the national idolatry 
was preserved. It is but a meagre account, therefore, of their 
religion as it was when they first came in contact with Rome, 
that we can gather from contemporary records. 

The Germans acknowledged a god of heaven, Wuotan or 
Wodan (the same Avith the Northern Odin, the spirit of nat- 
ure), Avith one eye — for heaven has but one eye, the sun. 
He supports the gray vault of clouds and the blue arch above ; 
in storms he rides, high on his steed, through the air, followed 
by his furious host, like "the wild hunter" of the legends, 
who is his counterpart. But he is also the god of the harvest, 
who grants favors, dispenses victory, and in general rules the 
world. The wolf and the raven were sacred to him ; horses 
were sacrificed on his altars. Among plants, the ash and the 
hazel trees Avere consecrated to him. His son was Donar, 
the god of tempest, who bloAvs the lightnings out from his red 



24 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

beard, drives through heaven in a car drawn by rams, and 
brandishes his mighty hammer in unceasing war against the 
giants. To him the lofty oak is sacred, and the red ash; 
while thd"-&^ and the squirrel are his animals. At his side 
stands the one-armed god of the sword, called Ziu, Tyr, or 
Saxnot. Besides these, they worshiped a goddess of earth 
and heaven, before whom also their tempest hymn was sung. 
She was known by various names : as the dark earth that 
swallows the dead, she was called Lady Hel-Holle ; as the 
earth gleaming in a white winter garment, she was Lady 
Bertha. Tacitus calls her Nerthus ; and places her abode in 
an island in the North Sea, where are her mysterious grove 
and lake, and her car, which at times bears peace and joy 
through the nations. A more human conception is that of 
the Spinner, the mother of the gods, who blesses home and 
hearth, and takes charge of children who die unborn. The 
forces of nature, whether friendly or hostile to man, are per- 
sonated in many forms, especially in the Dwarfs, who are 
cunning magicians, the guardians of the earth's hidden treas- 
ures, and master workmen in metals ; and in the hated Gi- 
ants, the embodiments of brute, blind force, the ancient lords 
of the earth, foes to gods and men. 

§ 20. But the same simple religion of nature assumes a 
more majestic form among the kindred tribes o the North, 
whose heroic poems were their holy books ; and enough of 
these has fortunately been preserved to throw much light on 
the faith of the whole German race. The Scandinavians in 
part clung to their heathenism for several centuries after most 
of the Germans abandoned it, and until their early doctrines 
had been reduced to writing; and in the Eddas of Iceland 
we have writings which are to the religion of the early Ger- 
mans what the Homeric poems are to that of ancient Greece. 
Some of the songs contained in the first Edda (written early 
in the twelfth century) are evidently extremely ancient, 
even in their present form ; and in all probability are but 
transcripts of traditions handed down from times much ear- 
lier than the German invasion of Europe. They represent 
Odin (Wuotan) throned on his lofty seat in the Walhalla, in 
golden armor; on his shoulders sit the ravens Hugin and 
Munin (thought and recollection), and two wolves lie at his 



Chap. I. MYTHS OF THE EDDA. 25 

feet. Thence he rules the world, and sends the Valkyrs, the 
virgins of battle, to bring the heroes who fall on the field up 
to the eternal abodes of the gods. These songs, too, celebrate 
the wars of Thor (Donar) Avith the giants. The place of the 
German Holda, or Bertha, is filled by Odin's wife Friga, and 
at her side is Freia, the goddess of love and beauty, who is 
drawn in her car by cats. Her brother Freyr, the kindly, 
beaming god of sun and spring, rides on the boar with golden 
bristles, and to him, as god of peace and joy, are consecrated 
the July days and the winter solstice. Various traces of his 
worship are found also in Germany. 

With a profound significance, this belief points to its own 
fall. The entire fabric of the world is conceived by it as em- 
bodied in one giant ash-tree, Ygdrasil, which stretches up- 
ward through the kingdoms of the universe, the greatest of 
these being Asenheim, the home of gods •, Mannheim, that of 
men ; and Yotunheim, that of giants. At the fountain of 
Urd — which springs up at Ygdrasil's roots — sit the Nornes, 
the sisters of destiny. But stags are feeding on the blossoms 
of the tree, a dragon gnaws at its roots. The snake of Midgard 
in the ocean surrounds the whole earth. Even the sun and 
moon are chased through the sky by wolves, which threaten 
to swallow them. Death and sin, too, have entered the com- 
munity of gods. Baldur, the fairest and purest of them all, 
has been slain by the cuiming of the wicked Loki, a descend- 
ant of the giants, and father of Hel, of the snake of Midgard 
and of the Fenris wolf This wolf it is that most endangers 
the gods and the world. He still lies chained by magic in 
the Iron forest; but whenever the blood of kindred is wan- 
tonly shed on earth, it trickles into his closed mouth, and 
gives him strength. One day he will break loose, pnd then 
comes the twilight of the gods, the end of the world. Then 
Surtur, at the head of the fire demons, sons of Muspelheim, 
storms across the bridge Bifrost to attack Asenheim ; the 
snake of Midgard unwinds its folds, and Naglfar, the ship of 
death, comes over the sea. Heimdal, the watchman at the 
end of the bridge, winds the Giallr horn, and the frightful 
struggle begins. In hand-to-liand fight all are slain, gods 
and monsters ; at last Surtur scatters fire over the world, 
and it is consumed. But out of the flames arises a new 



26 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

creation ; Baldur returns, and witli him a blessed age of in- 
nocence. 

It has been a subject of controversy whether the Edda can 
be regarded as an expression of the faith of Germans ; and 
some scholars contend that it represents rather the vast and 
weird imagination of the' heathen poets. But its essential 
conceptions of the gods, its moral motives, and its views of 
life, are all thoroughly German ; and as far as it contains a 
religion, it may safely be accepted as the religion of all the 
German tribes. That Thor, Odin or Wodan, and Freia were 
great gods of all the Germans is imperishably witnessed by 
the names of the days of the week, Thursday, Wednesday, 
and Friday, which are named for them in every branch of the 
German tongue. Baldur was honored as a god among the 
half-Christians of Germany in the days of Pepin of Helistal; 
and a German Christian poet of the ninth century gives to 
the final judgment predicted in the New Testament a form 
and coloring evidently imitated from the Edda's "Twilight 
of the Gods." It is probable that the one great thought of 
the Edda, the i^crishableness of the universe, including even 
the gods known and worshiped, Avas deej^ly impressed upon 
the minds of a large part of the German race, and did much 
to prepare them, as it prepared the Norsemen, for receiving 
the Christian doctrine of the unknown God, "who only hath 
immoi'tality." 

Serious thoughtfulness, valor in battle, and vigor of char- 
acter, are the features which appear most prominent in the 
early Germans, whether we examine their religion or their 
manners and customs in ordinary life. 

§ 21. In the course of the first two centuries of our era, the 
magnificent organizatioii and unity of the Roman Empire, 
and the superiority of Roman culture, obtained among the 
Germans what the sword had failed to force upon them; a 
controlling influence which, however, did not deprive the 
Germans, as it commonly did the Celts, of their own language, 
laws, religion — in one word, of their nationality. The Em- 
pire, indeed, under the excellent rulers whom it enjoyed for 
more than a century, from Vespasian to Marcus Aurelius, 
strove to extend its sway into Germany, beyond the Rhine 
and the Danube. In the latter part of the first century and 



Chap. I. THE ROMANS ON GERMAN SOIL. 27 

during the two centuries following, the angle of Germany 
which lies between the upper waters of the two great rivers, 
the region from which Maroboduus had led his Suevi east- 
ward (now Baden, Wirtemberg, and Northwestern Bavaria), 
was brought under Roman sovereignt}", and colonized with 
soldiers according to the Roman custom. A line of fortifi- 
cations was established — with ditches, palisades, walls, and 
towers — from the Main, near tlie present Aschafl:enburg, in a 
slight outward curve to the Rhine below Schaffhausen, and 
in a longer curve to the Danube near Ratisbon. Besides, the 
corner of land between the Rhine, lower down, and the Main, 
known as the Taunus territory, Avas inclosed by a palisade 
with a ditch. Within these lines dwelt soldiers who had 
been discharged from service, some of Roman origin, and 
some Germans or Gauls, all of them paying to Rome one 
tenth of their produce. From this payment, the district was 
called for centuries the tithing land {agri deewnates). 

§ 22. In these lands, after their colonization by Rome, arose 
a kind of culture hitherto unknown to the Germans. First 
of all a series of cities were built, chiefly along the Rhine. 
Bregenz and Augst, near Basle, were in Rhoetian territory. 
Mayence,Worms, Spires, and Strasburg were founded in Upper 
Germany; while in Lowei"Germany,around the fortified camps 
of Drusus, grew up the cities of Bingen, Coblenz, Remagen, 
Bonn, Neuss, Xanten, and others. Cologne had long been 
founded, and Trier (Treves) was built in Roman splendor on 
the former site of the Gallic Treverer on the Upper Moselle. 
Near the Danube, too, grew up flourishing cities — Augsburg 
in Vindelicia, Salzburg in Noricum, and Vienna in Pannonia. 
Almost every spring of warm or mineral water, from Baden- 
Baden to Aix and Spa, was known and used, and most of 
them had fine buildings around them. Iron mines Avere 
worked in Noricum. The sunny banks of the Moselle and 
Pkhine were soon planted with vineyards; the Romans brought 
to these districts the superior orchard fruits, the finer and 
rarer garden products, and a complete system of agriculture, 
and extended these benefits also to the German tribes which 
were still independent. The great Roman roads, built 
through Gaul and over the Alps for trade, ended at the Rhine 
and the Danube ; but the Roman merchant pressed on, by 



28 HISTOEY OF GERMANY. BovOk 1. 

ways less traveled but still well known, until lie reached the 
North Sea and the Baltic. In the interior of Germany he 
purchased horses, hogs, and horned cattle, skins and furs, 
down and feathers, wool, and even woolen cloths. Smoked 
meats, honey, turnips, beets, and radishes of astonishing size 
were sent to Rome ; asparagus from the banks of the Rhine, 
several sorts of choice fish from the German brooks, and rare 
species of birds, adorned as delicacies the table of the Roman 
epicure. The shores of the Baltic Sea contributed the pre- 
cious amber, and Roman ladies decorated themselves with the 
golden hair of the Germans. 

§ 23. In return, the Germans received from Rome orna- 
ments of gold and silver, for which they had a passion, fine 
clothing and southern wines. But a closer bond than that 
of trade between the Germans and the Romans was the mil- 
itary service, into which large numbers of the Germans en- 
tered as mercenaries. Caesar had perceived long ago the 
high value of German bravery in the Roman army, and it 
was to Gorman mercenaries that he was especially indebted 
for his victory over Pompey at Pharsalus. This service ex- 
ercised a wide influence on the people. The old German cus- 
toms of inheritance compelled younger sons to go in search 
of military duty and of booty ; the old German passion for 
wandering and adventure stimulated them ; while the splen- 
dor and glory of " eternal Rome " filled the northern son of 
the wilderness with admiring reverence, and took from her 
service every ground for reproach or shame. Nothing could 
be more destructive to the national life of the people than 
this habit of serving for money in foreign armies, and even 
against their native land; but German patriotism was so 
completely unknown that this career was no less respected 
than any other. Thus German mercenaries became associated 
with the Roman soldiery throughout the Empire. It would 
sometimes happen that German troops obtained from Rome 
their own prince as commandei-, or that a "king" with his 
train, or even an entire tribe, agreed to do military service 
in exchange for land. On his return from the wars, the Ger- 
man warrior's tales excited in his associates not only wonder, 
but eager desire for such splendor as he described ; and these 
people knew no law toward strangers but that of the sword 



Chap. I. TRIBES COLLECTED INTO NATIONS. 29 

and of the strongest. The time soon came when Rome's 
weakness was discerned. 

§ 24. The last of the good emperors, Marcus Aurelius (a.d. 
161-180), carried on long and unsuccessful wars against the 
Marcomanni and Quadi, who threatened the Danubian prov- 
inces of Rome (a.d. 166-175, 178-180). He died at Vienna 
(Vindobona), and his son Commodus (a.d. 180-192) succeeded 
him; and now the Empire rushed onward irresistibly to its 
fall. Thenceforth the throne was commonly won and lost in 
a revolution wrought by the army ; the provinces, wasted by 
civil war, political disorder, pestilence, and other calamities, 
sank into indescribable misery. From this time the Germans 
come forward more and more prominently as assailants of the 
Empire, and by their bold, plundering incursions add to the 
general distraction. But the same period marks a change in 
them also. The smaller tribes which Tacitus had enumerated 
are heard of no more. In their stead, partly by conquest 
and partly by voluntary consolidation, extensive associations 
of tribes have arisen, which may be called nations. The an- 
cient community system is gone ; instead, the personal fol- 
lowing of each of the leading princes has grown to be an or- 
ganized array, with a chieftain at its head called a king. Six 
of these German nations now enter the scene of history. 

§ 25. First come the Goths. In the lists of Tacitus, they 
are named as settled about the mouths of the Vistula ; but 
even then they were ruled by kings, and were a wandering 
race, bent on conquest. Their ancient traditions, which their 
annalist, Jordanes, reports, traces their origin back to the 
island of Scanz, that is, to Scandinavia. There, the story 
goes, a night as long as forty days darkens the land in win- 
ter, the waters are stiffened to ice and snow, and the wolves 
themselves become blind if they roam over them. Thence, 
like a swarm of bees, came the Goths to the mouths of the 
Vistula, on the Baltic Sea. In the vast plains inhabited by 
the Sarmatians, and on as far as the Roman province of Dacia, 
which Trajan had founded between the Danube, the Theiss, 
and the Dniester, these Goths found no foes that could 
withstand them. They spread still further to the east, con- 
quered most of Dacia, and in the third century reached the 
Black Sea. Between this and the Baltic, they noM^ had an 



30 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

almost boundless territory. They were divided into West 
Goths (Visigoths), south and east of the wooded Carpathian 
range, and East Goths (Ostrogoths), in the broad plains stretch- 
ing eastward to the Dnieper. The former were ruled by the 
royal house of the Balthi, the latter by that of the Amali. 
Kindred tribes, such as the Gepida?, Heruli, Rugii, and Van- 
dals, had joined them ; while in the east, toward the Don, 
dwelt the half-German tribe called Alani, There were also 
Sclavic tribes subject to them. In the third century the Goths 
undertook to make terrible inroads for plunder upon the 
neighboring Roman provinces of Moesia and Thrace. The 
heroic emperor Decius fell in a bloody fight against them. 
With their ships they ransacked the shores of the Black Sea. 
They even sailed through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, 
and ravaged the Cyclades, and the shores of Greece and Ionia, 
where, for instance, they burned the famous temple of Diana 
at Ephesus. After the middle of the fourth century, Ermen- 
erich, the aged king of the East Goths, united in his own 
hands the exclusive sovereignty of them and of their allied 
tribes. But the union of these peoples was too loose to be 
called a kingdom ; it was scarcely the outline of one. Yet 
the Goths, from the first, showed themselves capable of civ- 
ilization. 

§ 26. The Allemanni were a second German nation which 
had now grown up ; and their name, which first occurs in the 
accounts of Caracalla's expedition against the Germans, a.d. 
213, indicates a league or gathering of peoples (all-man). 
They were a mixed race of Suevian descent, and came from 
Eastern Germany, going first to the Prankish Jura (Northwest 
Bavaria), on the east side of the Roman line of fortifications. 
The Romans soon had to give up the tithe-lands to them. 
Some of the later emperors (as Probus and Julian) obtained 
temporary successes in war against them; but they always 
pressed forward again, and Gaul and even North Italy suflered 
from their incursions. At last they settled on the Upper Rhine, 
occupying what is now Baden, Wirtemberg, and Northeast- 
ern Switzerland, and extending southward to the summit of 
the Alps. 

The Thuringii had grown out of the remnants of the Her- 
munduri and other tribes. United under one king, they oc- 



Chap. I. WEAKNESS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 31 

cupied the land from the Danube through Central Germany, 
to and even beyond the Hartz Mountains ; while their bound- 
ary on the east was the Bohemian forest and the Saale. 
Between them and the Allemanni, east of the Oden forest, 
dwelt the Burgundians, who soon, however, advanced to the 
Rhine near Worms, where they adopted Christianity. The 
whole plain of North Germany, from the Hartz to the North 
Sea, and from the Elbe almost to the Rhine, was occupied by 
the Saxons. According to their traditions, confirmed by some 
historical indications, they crossed the Elbe from the north 
as conquerors, and it is possible that the ancient tribes which 
had settled there, the Cherusci, became incorporated with 
them. They took their name from their short sword (the 
sahs), and they retained the old German system of districts 
and communities, without kings. Finally, the Franks appear 
on the Lower Rhine : a mixture of Bructeri, Chatti, and Ba- 
tavi, joined also by the Sigambri who had settled in this re- 
gion. They are recognized as a distinct nation before the 
end of the third century A.D. They were governed by no- 
blemen, who were perhaps also called kings. The Saxons 
and Franks were friends, and were generally in alliance. 
They were terrible pirates, with the light vessels with which 
they roamed over the stormy seas and often visited the 
shores of Britain, Gaul, and even Spain and Sicily. A quieter 
race than these were the Frisians, wlio occupied the shore of 
the North Sea, and the islands facing it. 

§ 27. The Romans had no means by Avhich they could per- 
manently resist the attacks of these German nations. Able 
emperors, like Probus, Diocletian, and Constantine, might 
confine them for a time to their own boundaries, but the 
flood continually broke forth anew. Tlie Germans had dis- 
covered the weakness of the Roman Empire, Christianity 
had gradually made its way, against persecutions, over the 
whole of the Roman dominions, and had finally been estab- 
lished by Constantine as the religion of the state ; but it 
could not save the Empire as a whole. Indeed, the vices of 
the state entered the Church, giving occasion to party strifes, 
to hair-splitting disputes on doctrine, and to despotism. On 
the other hand, it was just at this time that the first germs 
of Christianity took root among the Germans also. Long 



32 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

before this, indeed (from about a.d. 100), it had been intro- 
duced into the Roman cities along the Rhine and the Dan- 
ube, the great highways of trade ; tradition even connects 
the foundation of the bishoprics of Mayence, Treves, Cologne, 
and Tongres with the immediate pupils of the apostles, such 
as St. Crescentius, Maternas, and others. But now Ulphilas 
(Vulfila, 318-388), a descendant of a Christian family of 
Asia Minor which had been carried into captivity by a raid- 
ing party of West Goths, brought Christianity to that peo- 
ple, and translated most of the Bible into Gothic, inventing, 
it is said, the Mseso-Gothic alphabet for that purpose. This 
is the oldest monument of German speech in existence. But 
the moment when this new and great spiritual power passed 
from the decayed peoples of the old world into the hands of 
the Germans, was also the time for these to step out of their 
previous isolation into the broad theatre of history, and meet 
their great destiny. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE GREAT MIGRATIONS AND THE FALL OF THE WESTERN 
EMPIRE, A.D. 375-476. 

§ 1 . Causes of the Great Migrations. The Huns enter Europe. § 2. The 
Goths in the Empire. § 3. Radagast and Alaric in Italy. § 4. The 
Goths and the Vandals in the Provinces. § 5. The Anglo-Saxons. § 6. 
Attila, the Hun. § 7. His Defeat at Chalons, and Death. § 8. End of 
the Western Empire. § 'J. Theodoric Conquers Italy. § 10. Extent of 
the Supremacy of the Germans. § 11. Their Minstrelsy and Trade. § 1 2. 
Their Government and Keligion. § 13. The Effect of Luxury. Laws 
and Customs. § 11. Fall of the Vandal Kingdom. § 15. Fall of the 
Goths in Italy. § 16. The Mohammedan Power in the East. § 17. The 
Lombards in Italy. § 18. Antharis and Theudolinda. 

§ 1. The relations between the Romans and the Germans 
were now intimate and constant ; and the reciprocal influ- 
ence of the two races greatly afl'ected the character as well 
as the destiny of each. No village or district of Germany was 
too remote to send its representatives to Rome, sometimes 
as mercenary soldiers, sometimes as prisoners of war, as ex- 
iles, or as mere adventurers. These often took part in the 
struggles of the motley throng, contending for wealth and 
power at the centre of the world, and often returned to their 
native homes, bringing with them new habits of life and 
thought. Before the end of the third century of our era, the 
Germans had ceased to fear Rome ; and before the beginning 
of the fifth, they began to regard the Empire as their prey. 
They knew its weakness as a government, and despised the 
enervation of its capital and the corruption of its citizens. 
Indeed, Rome itself was no longer the city of the Romans. 
The ahcient families of the Republic had mostly disappeared ; 
even in the Senate, provincial upstarts, brought to the capital 
during the wars of the Empire, were in the majority. As 
early as a.d. 235, the Gothic athlete Maximin was invested 
by the soldiers with the imperial purple ; and from that time 
there was no dignity even in Rome which could seem to be 
hopelessly beyond the reach of an ambitious German. Mean- 

D 



34 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

while the northern tribes were rapidly increasing in numbers, 
and their progress in agriculture and the arts was not suf- 
ficient to provide them with subsistence upon their own soil ; 
so that they were continually pressing upon their neighbors, 
and demanding more laud. The Romans themselves clearly 
saw the danger of the Empire, and lived in apprehension of 
overwhelming incursions from the north long before they 
came. In the latter part of the fourth century, the great im- 
pulse was given to the people of Northern and Eastern Eu- 
rope by successive invasions from Asia ; and a vast and 
general movement began among them, the results of which 
were a complete change of their abodes, a new distribution 
of the population ; and soon after, the disintegration of the 
Roman Empire, and the transfer of the principal arena of 
history from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the coun- 
tries in which the great powers of modern Europe afterward 
grew up. The first impulse was given to this series of events 
by disturbances and migrations in Central Asia, of whose 
cause hardly any thing is known. Long before the Chris- 
tian era, there was a powerful race of Huns in Northeastern 
Asia, who became so dangerous to the Chinese that the great 
wall of China was built as a defense against them (finished 
B.C. 244). Defeated by a more warlike dynasty in China, 
about 100 B.C., they fled westward, and traces of their divi- 
sions and operations in Central Asia during the succeeding 
centuries have been found by scholars in the annals and scat- 
tered notices which survive relating to the history of China 
and Persia. In the year a.d. 375, after traversing the vast 
plains west of the Ural Mountains and north of the Black 
Sea, they fell upon the Alani, or Alans, a pastoral tribe of 
mixed German and Tartar descent, who dwelt in the region 
where Moscow now stands, and subdued them, or made allies 
of them. They then attacked the East Goths, who were still 
nominally ruled by Hermanric, then a century old, and over- 
came them, the aged king falling on his own sword. The 
impression made upon the German tribes by the first appear- 
ance of this Mongol race was one of horror ; and the Greek 
and Roman writers of the times record the exaggerated ac- 
counts brought to them by the terrified Germans. The Huns 
were a nomadic people, living more on horseback and in their 



Chap. II. THE HUNS INVADE EUROPE. 35 

cars than on the ground. They were vehement and terrible 
in attack, sending bone-pointed arrows and whirling slings 
with wonderful force as they rode ; and they were scarcely 
less terrible in retreat, nor were they ever weary of renewing 
the fight. They were awkward on their feet, and repulsive 
to the sight, having thick bodies, flat noses, small, mean, and 
fierce eyes, and hardly any beard. The Goths thought them 
magical beings, the ofispring of their own banished witches 
and the demons of the wilderness. Advancing again, the 
Huns threatened the West 'Goths, who were now divided into 
two parts, under two kings — Athanaric, who still clung to the 
heathenism of his fathers, and Fritigern, who had become a 
Christian. The former part betook themselves to the Carpa- 
thian Mountains, the latter begged for reception into the Ro- 
man Empire. Valens, the emperor, accepted them as his sub- 
jects, on condition that they should surrender their arms, and 
give up their children as hostages, to be educated far away in 
Asia, under the direction of the emperor. In the spring (a.d. 
378) they crossed the swollen Danube, two hundred thousand 
fighting men, after delivering up their arms. Their king, 
Athanaric, was taken to Constantinople, and on entering the 
market-place, he exclaimed, "Doubtless the emperor is a god 
on earth, and he who attacks him is guilty of his own blood" 
— a significant confession of the power exercised on the Ger- 
man mind at that time by the pomp and system of the im- 
perial government, and by the rites of the Christian Church, 
But once received into the Empire, the Goths became a prey 
to the avarice of the Roman officers, who sold them back 
their arms, robbed them of their treasures, and rendered 
them little of the promised aid. Thus necessity drove them, 
while still fugitives and suppliants, into revolt and war. In 
the bloody battle of Adrianople (August 9, 378) they gained 
a complete victory, and Valens himself was first wounded, 
and then burned by the Goths in a cottage into which he 
had been carried from the field. In revenge for this defeat, 
and to prevent the appearance of a new and dangerous en- 
emy in the province of Asia, the Gothic children were treach- 
erously collected, in each of the cities among which they had 
been distributed, and were massacred in a body by the Ro- 
mans (a.d. 379), 



36 HISTOKY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

§ 2. Theodosius, the successor of Valens, and the last of the 
great Roman emperors, conciliated the Goths. He adopted 
them as his warriors and allies, and established them in 
Thrace. Before his death, in 395, he divided the Empire, giv- 
ing the eastern part to his oldest son Arcadius, and the western 
to Honorius. But Arcadius, under the advice of his minister 
Rufinus, provoked the West Goths anew. They inaugurated 
the bold and cunning Alaric, of their royal family of the 
Balthi, as their king, elevating him on a shield, in the 
manner of their fathers ; and he at once traversed the whole 
peninsula of Greece, plundering and ravaging, but taking care 
not to attack or besiege fortified cities. By way of Ther- 
mopylae, passing Athens, he entered the Peloponnesus ; and 
without hinderance set his foot on the memorable places of 
ancient Grecian story. Succor and rescue could only come 
from the Western Empire ; and Stilico, the minister of Hono- 
rius, himself a German by descent, marched to the relief of 
the Greeks, so that Alaric was scai'cely able to lead off his 
army in safety. But he obtained from the Eastern Empire 
the cession of the province of Illyria, which lay nearer to 
Italy. Thence, in 403, he invaded Italy. Stilico again drove 
him back, after he had laid waste the whole valley of the Po, 
defeating him at Pollentia and at Verona, and thus saved 
Italy and Rome. 

§ 3. But the great impulse to the migration of nations had 
now been given. The Alani and Vandals, formerly subjects 
of Hermanric, had moved after his fall into what is now Ger- 
many. About this time, too, the Sclavonic tribes forced their 
way westwardly, and drove the Suevi from their homes east 
of the Elbe. We have no means of clearly tracing the move- 
ments of the various tribes in the interior of Germany ; but 
that beautiful Roman civilization which had flourished on the 
Rhine and the Danube now began to fall into ruin. A mot- 
ley host of Goths, Vandals, Alani, Suevi, Burgundians, and 
Gepidte, half a million strong, broke into Italy under Rada- 
gast and demanded homes. They too were defeated by Stili- 
co at Fiesole, near Florence (a.d. 406), but only with the sacri- 
fice of the last remnants of Roman strength. Stilico recalled 
his legions from the Rhine and from Britain, and abandoned 
these countries, which soon became the spoil of the barbari- 



Chap. II. ROME SACKED BY THE GOTHS. 37 

ans. Nor was the swarm of invaders destroyed. Driven 
from Italy, but reinforced beyond the Alps, they fell upon 
Southern Gaul, and then upon Spain ; and here the Suevi, in 
what is now Galieia, the Alani in Portugal, and the Silingi 
and Vandals in Andalusia, founded the first German princi- 
palities on soil that had belonged to Rome. All these na- 
tions had already adopted Christianity, and were governed by 
kings. Part of the army of Radagast escaped and joined 
Alaric ; and when the Emperor Honorius put Stilico to death, 
thus depriving himself of the main pillar of his power, Alaric, 
with the West Goths, again invaded Italy (a.d. 408). He 
advanced against Rome, which had seen no foreign foe at its 
gates since the time of Hannibal, cut off the supplies of the 
city, and thus caused the most frightful famine within the 
walls. The Roman embassadors tried to frighten Alaric by 
boasting, and menacing him with the desperate resistance of 
half a million of residents, but he answered mockingly, " The 
thicker the grass, the better the mowing;" and when they, in 
terror at his demands, finally asked him sadly, " O king, what 
do you mean to leave us ?" he replied, proudly and sharply, 
" Your lives." Roman generals had acted and spoken in the 
same way, but now relations were reversed, and the late lords 
of the world humbly purchased Alaric's withdrawal with their 
richest treasures. But he remained in Italy, and only two 
years later (a.d. 410) again appeared before Rome, which fell 
into his hands. Honorius had shamefully taken refuge in for- 
tified Ravenna, abandoning Italy and his capital. Yet the 
Goths, though they, sacked the city, treated it with more for- 
bearance and humanity than the Romans had been wont to 
show in like cases, and infinitely more than was afterward 
shown by the Catholic army of Charles V., in 1527. Alaric 
then marched into South Italy, intending, as it seems, to cross 
Sicily and to enter North Africa, then the most productive 
provinces of the empire. But his own excessive labors and 
the climate together overcame the hero on the way. He died 
suddenly, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and his Goths 
buried him in secret and by night near Cosenza, in the bed 
of the Busentum (Baseno). 

§ 4. In Alaric's place, the Goths elected his brother-in-law, 
Althaulf (Adolphus). It was plainly in the power of this 



38 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

chieftain to destroy the Western Empire, but he chose to 
preserve it ; and Orosius declares that he used to explain his 
policy by saying : " I earnestly desired at first to abolish the 
very name of Rome, and to build up a Gothic Empire, so that 
' Goth ' should mean all that ' Roman ' had meant, and Al- 
thaulf should stand for Caesar Augustus. But experience 
showed me that the unbridled barbarism of the Goths could 
submit to no law, yet that the abolition of laws would be the 
annihilation of the state itself; and I chose, for my part, to 
seek the glory of restoring and magnifying the name of Rome 
by Gothic strength, and to be regarded by posterity as the 
restorer of Rome, since I could not replace it." Althaulf 
therefore bowed to the majestic name of Rome, and offered 
his friendship to Honorius, preparing to take for his wife the 
emperor's sister, Placidia, who had been a prisoner of the 
Goths since Rome was taken. He also offered to enter with 
his people into the service of the Empire, and to subdue Spain 
and Gaul. Honorius, though with reluctance, accepted the 
terms. Althaulf marched into Southern Gaul, and occupied 
it ; and in Narbouue celebrated his nuptials, the bride receiv- 
ing rich gifts from the Goths. Althaulf took his seat beside 
her throne, but a step lower — such was still the homage given 
to the imperial family of Rome, He was soon after assassin- 
ated ; but under his successor, Wallia, the West Goths con- 
quered Spain also, driving the Vandals and Suevi to the 
northwestern part of the peninsula, and completely subjugat- 
ing the Silingi and Alani. Thus they founded a kingdom, 
which at first acknowledged its dependence on Rome; and 
they formed an army in the Roman service, the soldiers be- 
ing paid in land instead of money. But the Germans soon 
went on to occupy other provinces of the Western Empire. 
The Vandals, a tribe akin to the Goths, were summoned across 
from Spain into North Africa by Boniface, the rebellious Ro- 
man governor. They were led by their general or king, the 
lame and crafty Genseric (Geiserich), and conquered for them- 
selves this province, the most splendid in the Empire, laying 
it waste most frightfully. The capital of the German princes 
was fixed at ancient Carthage (a.d, 429). But the kingdom 
of the West Goths stretched from the Loire to the Straits of 
Gibraltar, and under Wallia's successor the last vestige of 



Chap. II. THE P:MPIRE DISMEMBERED. 39 

Roman supremacy disappeared. The royal residence was 
Toulouse (Tolosa). 

Thus the first wave of the great migration had cost the 
Western Empire its finest provinces : Africa, Spain, and South- 
ern Gaul were in the hands of Goths, that is, of Germans. 

§ 5. The Western Empire was hastening to its fall. Of 
Gaul, once its most flourishing province, only the part north 
of the Loire remained to Rome. Here the empire was rep- 
resented by an avaricious general, Aetius, whose position was 
hardly less independent than that of a German king. But 
Rome sustained the severest loss in its province of Britain. 
This country flourished under Roman rule, but also became 
unwarlike. Stilico had taken away its legions to save Italy. 
The Britons, who were Celts mixed with Romans, could not 
defend themselves against the incursions of the Picts and 
Scots from Scotland ; so that here, too, it was proposed to 
introduce German mercenaries. The Saxons and the kindred 
Angles and Jutes were well known as bold pirates, who often 
ravaged the coasts of Britain. They were now called on for 
help. Two Jute princes, Hengist and Horsa, landed with three 
vessels in Kent, the southeastern corner of the island, and had 
a tract of land assigned to them ; and Hengist's descendants 
afterward reigned in Kent. The arrivals soon multiplied ; 
Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, and even a few Franks and 
Langobards, crossed the North Sea, and from the protectors, 
soon became the conquerors and masters of all Britain (from 
A.D. 449). Only in the mountains of Wales did the ancient 
Celtic inhabitants, under their king, Arthur (who died a.d. 
537), ofier an heroic resistance. Several Anglo-Saxon king- 
doms arose. Seven are commonly enumerated : four of them 
mainly of Saxons — Kent, Sussex, Essex, and Wessex; and 
three mainly of Angles — East Anglia,Mercia, and Deira. But, 
in fact, these kingdoms were in a constant state of war and 
change, and there were never at any one time so many as seven 
independent monarchies. These German settlements extend- 
ed beyond the Firth of Forth ; the ancient Celtic or Gaelic 
population retained only the Highlands of Scotland. 

§ 6. While the Anglo-Saxons were entering on these con- 
quests, the Western Empire trembled to its foundations under 
the shock of a second wave of the great migration of nations. 



40 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

The Mongol tribe of Huns, which had given the first impulse 
to the movement, had since forced its way to the plains of 
the Lower Danube and into the tract now called Hungary. 
Most of the German tribes which had been subjects of Herman- 
ric had joined them. The Huns were seen to be valiant war- 
riors ; their manners became somewhat assimilated to those of 
the Germans, and thus the aversion of the Germans to them 
wore away. To the German mind it was no disgrace to serve 
the most valiant. From the year a.d. 428, Attila (Etzel) 
was king of the Huns, and ruled over all that is now Hun- 
gary, and the sadly ravaged land that extended thence al- 
most to the Rhine. Between the Theiss and the Danube, 
near the Carpathian Mountains, stood his capital, a large 
Mongol village. In this was a great four-sided court, sur- 
rounded with a palisade ; and in the midst of it his palace, a 
wooden structure, with many passages around it. Attila 
himself bore the stamp of the Asiatic nomads ; he was short 
and stout, with a broad head, a huge neck, and little eyes 
that rolled proudly. Besides his Huns, he had many German 
tribes for subjects ; chief among them the East Goths, and 
then Gepidse, Heruli, Turcilingi, Rugii, Sciri, and even the 
Thuringii, far in Central Germany. These were the German 
tribes which still clung to heathenism. Many tribes of the 
Sclaves (Sclavi), who had already penetrated Europe, also 
acknowledged him as master. Such was the power of this 
prince, the mightiest warrior known to the history of the 
great migration, whose terrible hand suddenly reached out 
eastward to Constantinople, and even to the Euphrates and 
Lebanon. He stands in marked contrast to all the other great 
leaders of the wandering nations, in that he was the only one 
among them whose work and aim seem to have been those 
of the destroyer alone. The chieftains of the conquering Ger- 
man tribes always strove to preserve the civil order and the 
superior civilization of the conquered ; but the Hun sought 
for prosperity only to make it a desert ; and thus earned in 
history the title of " the Scourge of God." 

§ *?. Seeing serious difficulties in the way of his designs 
against the Eastern Empire, Attila suffered himself to be in- 
duced by the cunning Genseric to march westward to Gaul. 
For Genseric was now threatened with an attack both from 



Chap. II. THE DEFEAT OF THE HUNS. 41 

Theodoric, king of the West Goths, and from Rome, and 
wished to secure himself against them. In the year 451 At- 
tila started with his host. He passed up the Danube, through 
Bohemia, Thuringia, and the Burgundian territory, and cross- 
ed the Rhine. In two mighty columns his army entered 
Gaul; wherever his horse passed, a desert remained. By 
Treves and Metz he proceeded toward the Loire ; he besieged 
Orleans. Now Aetius drew near, and Attila, hearing this, 
raised the siege, and turned back to the plains of the Marne, 
to the Catalonian fields (near Chalons). Here, in 451, the 
armies met, in one of the most extensive and frightful battles 
recorded in history. Attila had, first and above all, his Huns ; 
then the East Goths, under their three kings, as faithful to 
hira as his own people ; and then Thuringians, Burguudians, 
Franks, Gepidae, Rugii, Sciri — an innumerable host. Aetius, 
the last defender, and now almost the master of falling Rome, 
commanded the Roman army of the province of Gaul ; but 
his chief strength was in the West Goths, whom he had sum- 
moned to his help, and who now, under their king Theodoric, 
met in battle their near kindred, the East Goths. Besides, 
he had bands of Franks and Alani, who had sought refuge 
with him ; of Saxons, who had long ago settled on the Roman 
canal; of I^urgundians, who had recently found homes on the 
Rhone, and even of Britons, who, driven from England by 
the Saxons, had occupied Brittany. Thus Germans were ar- 
rayed against Germans, the very fragments of divided tribes 
against one another ; the Christian and Roman world against 
the heathen world of the Huns. The Huns, who had been in 
retreat for some days before the battle, seemed dispirited; 
and Attila, it is said, attempted to stir them by an eloquent 
speech, not unlike in tone the famous addresses with which 
Napoleon was fond of arousing his troops on the eve of an 
engagement. "The same fortune which had laid so many 
warlike nations at their feet," he declared, " had reserved for 
their crowning triumph the joy of the coming conflict " {hu- 
jus eertaminis gaudia, or, as Byron translates it, " the rapture 
of the strife "). He appealed to their faith in fate, and called 
on them to follow him, and leave the rest to heaven. They 
caught his inspiration, and rushed impetuously on the foe. 
The huge conflict ended in Attila's defeat. It was so fiercely 



42 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

contested that a brook which crossed the field was swollen 
high with blood ; yet the weary or wounded soldiers quenched 
their burnins: thirst from it. The kinar of the West Goths 
paid his life for his victory ; but on the very battle-field they 
raised up on the shield, as his successor, his son Tuismund, 
who at once was furious for revenge. This battle is believed, 
with good reason, to have been the most destructive to hu- 
man life in all the bloody annals of war. The most moderate 
account left to us by contemporary writers estimates the slain 
at one hundred and sixty-two thousand, or more than twice 
the entire loss of both armies at Waterloo, including the 
killed, wounded, and missing. When evening came, Attila 
retired to his traveling fortress ; all night the lamentations 
of the Huns and their allies over the dead resounded fear- 
fully in the ears of the victors. It is of this " battle of the 
nations" that the painter Kaulbach, of Munich, has depicted 
the legendary spirit in the most impressive of his great 
historical frescos in Berlin. The story told was that tlie 
conflict was so bitter that the dead of the day rose, like 
ghosts, in the night, fighting in the air; and it doubtless 
suggested to the poet of " Marmion " an image in his spirited 
battle-piece : 

"They close, in clouds of smoke and dust, 
With sword-sway, and with lance's thrust ; 

And such a yell was there '*" 

Of sudden and portentous birth, 
As if men fought upon the earth. 
And fiends in upper aii-." 

The king built of the trappings of his horsemen a funeral 
pyre, to burn himself and his nearest friends, if Aetius should 
renew the battle in the morning, since he could no longer 
resist. But Aetius, too, was glad of the rest from combat, 
and permitted Attila to retreat unmolested across the Rhine 
and into Hungary. 

A year later (a.d. 452) Attila, with the Huns, again at- 
tacked Italy. The city of Aquileja was destroyed; the peo- 
ple fled from the coast to the lagoons, among which the 
beginnings of Venice had already arisen ; and the whole 
peninsula lay defenseless before the invader. But the great 
Roman bishop, Leo, prevailed on Attila to withdraw his 



Chap. II. FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 43 

army, which was in danger of want and disease. The next 
year he died. The Huns sang coarse hymns for the dead at 
his burial; the Germans adopted him as their own, immor- 
talizing him in their heroic ballads among their great national 
heroes. 

§ 8. The Western Empire had now but a short time to 
live. The dastardly emperor Valentinian III., suspicious of 
the independent position of Aetius, recalled the conqueror of 
Attila from Gaul, and slew him with his own hand (a.d. 454). 
He was himself murdered soon after, and his widow, Eudoxia, 
though forced to marry the assassin, determined to avenge 
her husband. She invited the Vandals, for this purpose, 
from Africa across the sea to Rome. This German tribe, 
still ruled by the aged Genseric, was the only one which pos- 
sessed a fleet; and by this means the Vandals had already 
made themselves masters of the great islands of the Medi- 
terranean, of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. The "sea-king" 
eagerly obeyed the summons (a.d. 455), and now "golden 
Rome" was given up for fourteen days to his soldiers, and 
was sacked with such horrors that the name of Vandal has 
ever since been a proverb for barbarity and destruction. Yet 
the mediation of Leo the Great, then Bishop of Rome, saved 
the city from utter ruin. From this time onward the em- 
perors, who followed one another in quick succession, were 
mere tools of the German generals, and symbols of power 
before the common people ; for the whole imperial army 
now consisted of the remnants of various German nations, 
who had sought service for pay. These, too, at last, like 
their kindred in the provinces, demanded lands in Italy, and 
would have no less than one third of the soil. When this was 
refused, Odoacer, at the head of his soldiers — Heruli, Sciri, 
Turcilingi, and Rugii, who forced their way thither from the 
Danube — put an end to the very name of the Roman Empire, 
stripping the boy Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor, of 
the purple, and ruling alone in Italy, as German general and 
king. Thus the Western Empire fell by German hands, after 
they had already wrested from it all its provinces, Africa, 
Spain, Gaul, and Britain. This occurred in the year 476. 
Ancient history ends with this event ; but in the history of 
the Germans it is merely an episode. 



44 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

But while the Roman Empire, as an organized government, 
ceased to exist, the Roman Empire, as an idea, as the concep- 
tion of a universal dominion, conferred by God, and elevated 
above kings, held its place in men's minds as firmly as ever. 
Odoacer could compel the successor of Augustus to lay down 
the imperial purple ; but he could not destroy the rooted 
conviction of the people that there was still somewhere a 
successor to his dignity and authority. In the very acknowl- 
edgment of the abdication of Augustulus, the Roman Senate 
resolved that " it was not necessary or desirable to continue 
the succession in Italy, because one sovereign monarch could 
rule and protect both the East and the West. They there- 
fore consent that the seat of the world's empire be removed 
to Constantinople;" and they actually sent an embassy to 
Zeno, the Emperor of the East, asking him to acknowledge 
Odoacer as patrician of Rome and deputy for Italy. To the 
Gothic king this was practically an idle form. He was as 
independent on the Tiber as his ancestors had been beyond 
the Danube. But to the people of Rome it was a sacred re- 
ality, as the form and name of the holy Roman Empire con- 
tinued to be to the people of nearly all Europe for ages. We 
shall often see the living power which this idea afterward 
exerted upon all the nations that had ever been subject to 
Rome ; so that it continued to be an important element in 
European history until after the Reformation. 

§ 9. Upon the fall of the Western Empire, the Eastern em- 
perors, whose capital was Constantinople, regarded them- 
selves as heirs to the entire dominion of Rome. It was their 
first concern to save at least the semblance of supreme power. 
To this purpose Theodoric, the young king of the East Goths, 
lent his aid. When Attila died, the kingdom of the Huns 
was broken up, and the several tribes regained their inde- 
pendence ; among them the East Goths, who then dwelt in 
the plains of the Danube, in Pannonia, and were neighbors 
and allies of the Eastern Empire. Theodoric, a prince of 
their royal house, and a descendant of the Amali, had been 
educated in Constantinople; and having approved himself 
by heroic deeds in youth, was chosen their king soon after 
the fall of the Western Empire. The emperor called on him 
to subjugate Italy, gave him the titles of general and patri- 



Chap. II. THE KINGDOM OF THEODORIC. 45 

cian of Rome; and, nominally as viceroy, but really in entire 
independence, Theodoric marched against Odoacer in 489. 
There was a fierce conflict, German against German. The- 
odoric gained the victory over Odoacer, and forced him into 
the stronghold of Ravenna ; but the latter broke forth again, 
and attacked the Goths, so that success hung long in the bal- 
ance. At last Theodoric, reinforced with West Goths from 
Gaul, again defeated Odoacer at Edda, and, after a siege of 
three years, took Ravenna (a.d. 493). Odoacer surrendered 
himself on conditions, but he and his family were soon after 
put to death. Theodoric now laid aside his Gothic attii-e, 
assumed the Roman purple, and, with Ravenna as his resi- 
dence, ruled Italy. It was his aim to combine the Roman 
and the Gothic policies, and to restore to prosperity the coun- 
tries that were desolate. Odoacer had already colonized the 
deserted territory from the Alps to the Danube with Ger- 
mans. Theodoric followed out his plan, but set over the new 
province, in which remnants of the former Heruli and Sciri 
had been mingled with the ancient Allemanni, a duke de- 
pendent on himself This people, inhabiting the ancient land 
of the Boii, became known as the Bojoarii, or Bavarians, and 
ai*e henceforth reckoned as a new German tribe. 

§ 10. Although the reign and character of Theodoric the 
Great was not without blemish, as the murder of the noble 
Boethius at a later date is enough to show, yet he governed 
Italy wisely and justly, so that even the Roman people cele- 
brated his reign as "a golden time" (a.d. 489-526), and likened 
him to their great emperors. He preserved, though in seem- 
ing independence, his friendly relations with the Eastern Em- 
pire. But all the Germans regarded him as the greatest and 
mightiest of their warrior kings. Far and near his counsel 
was sought and followed; and when, during his reign, Clovis 
with his Franks subdued Gaul, the Allemanni, West Goths, 
and Burgundians found in him a protector, who saved them 
from utter subjugation. He even formed the plan of uniting 
all the Germans in one great national league. But this was 
impracticable in his time, and their arms had now reached 
the highest point of power that they were destined to attain 
for ages. 

This will be obvious from a review of the changes now 



46 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

wrought in the old Roman Empire. In its seat of power, 
Italy, the East Goths occupied the land, and were masters of 
it from the Danube and the Rhone to the southern point of 
Sicily. The Vandals were supreme in North Africa, Sardinia, 
and Corsica, and on the Mediterranean. Spain was in the 
hands of the West Goths, by whose side the Suevi retained 
their independence in the northwestern part of the peninsula. 
The Franks had just spread over Gaul, extending their pos- 
sessions across the Rhine. Next to them came the Burgun- 
dians, in the southeast of Gaul, on the Rhone, and in Switzer- 
land, where they took refuge when the former kingdom of 
Gundahar around Worms was laid waste (a.d. 435 and 437) 
by Romans and Huns — an event whose bloody memory was 
preserved in heroic song. Britain now belonged to the Anglo- 
Saxons. The Scandinavian nations were also of the German 
race, and closely akin to their southern brethren in language, 
law, and customs. In the interior of Germany, the Saxons, 
Thuringii, and Allemanni, in a body, retained their former 
possessions. But the east had assumed a new aspect, for the 
territory east of the Elbe belonged no longer to Germans, 
but to Sclavonic tribes. Southward, between the Danube 
and the Alps, was the new tribe of Bavai'ians. Farther down 
the Danube were two German tribes, the Heruli on the right 
bank, and the Gepidoe on the left, toward the Carpathian 
hills. On the north the Langobards were gradually approach- 
ing the Danube, but at that time lingered in what is now 
the Austrian province of Moravia. Thus the entire western 
half of Europe was under German rule, which had taken the 
place of the former universal Empire of Rome ; and that 
empire was only lingering out its long decay and slow 
dissolution in the East (in Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, and 
Egypt). 

§ 11. At the time of the great migrations, the German 
tribes were barbarians, in that they were destitute alike of 
humanity toward enemies and inferiors, and of scientific cult- 
ure. Neither the pursuit of learning nor the practice of 
mercy to the vanquished could seem to them other than un- 
manly weakness. Their ferocity spread misery and ruin 
through the whole arena of history, and made the fifth and 
sixth centuries of our era the crowning epoch in the annals 



Chap. II. THE GERMAN CONQUERORS OF ROME. 47 

of human suffering ; while their active, passionate contempt 
for learning destro5^ed the existing monuments of intelligence 
and habits of inquiry and thought, almost as completely as 
they swept away the wealth, prosperity, and social organiza- 
tion of the Roman world. Their ablest kings despised cler- 
ical accomplishments. Even Theodoric the Great could not 
write, and his signature was made by a black smear over a 
form or mould in which his name was cut. Nevertheless 
these nations were not what we mean by savages. Their 
originally beautiful arid resonant language was already cul- 
tivated in poetical forms, in heroic songs. There was in- 
tercourse and trade among the several nations. Minstrels, 
especially, passed from one royal court to another, and the 
same song which was sung to Theodoric in Ravenna could 
be heard and understood by the Vandals in Carthage, by 
Clovis in Paris, and by the Thuringians in their fastnesses. 
A common language was a strong bond of union among these 
nations. Messengers, embassies, and letters were sent to and 
fro between their courts ; gifts were exchanged, and mar- 
riages and alliances entered into. Thus the nations were in- 
formed concerning one another, and recognized their mutual 
relationship. It \vas this international intercourse that gave 
rise to the heroic minstrelsy — a faithful relation of the great 
deeds of German heroes during the migrations; but the min- 
strel boldly transforms the order of events, and brings to-' 
gether things which in reality took place at intervals of 
whole generations. Thus they sing of Herraanric, of Theo- 
doric the Great (Dietrich the Strong, of Berne), and of his 
faithful knight Hildebrand; then of the fall of the Burgun- 
dian kings, of the far-ruling Attila, and of Sigurd, or Sieg- 
fried, who was originally a Northern god of spring, but here 
appears as a youthful hero, faithful and child-like, simple and 
unsuspicious, yet the mightiest of all — the complete image 
of the German character. 

§ 12. In the conquered Roman provinces the Germans set- 
tled as masters. They had obtained in most of the countries 
one third of the soil, in some of them as much as two thirds ; 
and thus each soldier in a German army of conquest became 
a landed proprietor or nobleman. Thus they lived in these 
once Roman provinces, in the midst of the older population, 



48 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

but not mingling with them. The " Welsh," as the Germans 
called the former subjects of Rome, continued to speak Latin ; 
they had been much mixed with strangers during the long 
wars, but still formed the mass of the country population, 
and almost the whole of the inhabitants of towns. They pre- 
served their Roman law for the government of their own 
communities, while the Germans administered justice among 
themselves according to their own traditions. On the whole, 
after their first irrujition, which was often fierce and cruel, 
the Germans were mild masters. While the old residents had 
been deprived of much of their land, they were freed from a 
great part of the terrible taxes which had burdened these 
already impoverished subjects under the later Roman Empire. 
In this respect the Germans were liberators even to the con- 
quered people, and raised them into a fresher and more active 
life. Yet the two layers of the population failed to come into 
friendly relations, chiefly because of religious difierences. 
Most of the Germans were indeed Christians in name, when 
they conquered these provinces; the only exceptions were 
the Franks and the Anglo-Saxons. ButChristianity had come 
to them in the form given it by the Arian sect, and this creed 
was afterward driven out by the Athanasian, which became 
the acknowledged Catholic belief, that is, the creed of the 
Universal Church. The difference between the two creeds 
*was in the doctrine of Christ's person. The Arians taught 
that Christ, though immeasurably above angels and men in 
dignity and power, is still a creature, whose existence is de- 
pendent upon that of the absolute Deity. The Athanasian 
or Catholic creed regards Christ, the Logos, as " consubstan- 
tial," of one substance and essence with the Father, " very 
God of very God." The Roman population had adopted the 
"Catholic" creed, arid hated their German conquerors the 
more bitterly that they regarded them as not only oppressors, 
but heretics also ; though the Germans themselves were gen- 
erally very forbearing toward differences of belief The Gei*- 
mans retained their military organization. At their head was 
the king, whose power became steadily more absolute ; under 
him were dukes and counts, as ofiicers, deputies, and judges. 
These noblemen took to themselves the land, plunder, and 
tribute exacted from the conquered ; and thus their wealth. 



Chap. II. MANNERS AND LAWS. 49 

importance, and power among their own people were enor- 
mously increased, and the distinctions of rank became sharper 
and more oppressive to the lower classes. The Germans in 
the conquered Roman territories were really but an army, 
that had taken up quarters there for an indefinite stay, and 
their rule took no firm root. None of them but the Anglo- 
Saxons in Britain had made thorough work: there the old 
Roman settlers and the aboriginal Celts alike disappeared, 
and the German language, customs, and laws, and even Ger- 
man heathenism, again possessed the land. 

§ 13. These wild times of warfare and wandering could not, 
of course, favorably affect morals and character. They did 
much to root out of the minds and lives of the people their an- 
cient heathen faith and practices. Their old gods were associ- 
ated with places, scenes, features of the country and. the cli- 
mate; and, with these out of sight, the gods themselves were 
easily forgotten. Moreover, the local deities of other places 
and nations were brought into notice. The people's religious 
habits were broken up, their minds confused, and thus they 
were better prepared than before to embrace the new and 
universal doctrines of Christianity. But the wanderings had 
a bad effect on morality in all forms. The upright German 
was still distinguished by his self-respect from the false, faith- 
less, and cowardly "Welshman," whose nature had become 
deformed through years of servitude. But Germans, too, 
were now often guilty of faithlessness and cruelty; and some 
tribes grew effeminate and corrupt, especially the Vandals in 
luxurious Africa. They imitated the style of the conquered 
in dress, arms, and manner of life ; and some adopted their 
language also. For instance, even Theodoric the Great cor- 
responded in Latin with foreign monarchs ; and as early as 
the sixth and seventh centuries, the Germans recorded their 
own laws in Latin, the West Goths and Burgundians intro- 
ducing the practice, w^hich was followed by the Franks, Alle- 
manni, Bavarians, and Langobards. These laws, and the pro- 
hibitions they contain, are the best. sources of information 
upon the manners of the time, and especially upon the con- 
dition of the lower orders, the peasants and slaves. The most 
frequent cases provided for are of bodily injuries, murder, 
wounds, and mutilations, showing that the warlike disposition 

E 



50 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

had degenerated into cruelty and coarseness. For all these 
injuries, the weregeld, or ransom, was still a satisfaction. The 
life of a nobleman, that of a freeman, of a slave, and the mem- 
bers of the body — the eye, ear, nose, and hand — were assessed 
each at a fixed money valuation, to be paid by the aggressor, 
if he would not exj^ose himself to the vengeance of the wrong- 
ed man or his family. But crimes committed by peasants 
and slaves were punished by death, sometimes at the stake, 
where freemen might escape by paying a fine. The oaths of 
parties and witnesses were heard ; and they were sustained 
by the oaths of others, their friends, relations, or partisans, 
who swore that they were to be believed. If an accused 
party swore that he was innocent, it was only necessary for 
him to obtain a sufficient number of compurgators, or jurors, 
of his own rank to swear that they believed him, in order to 
secure acquittal. But the number required was much larger 
for men of lower rank than for the nobles ; and the freedmen 
and slaves had no rights of the kind, but were tortured at 
will to compel them to confess or testify. The slaves were 
<)ften tried by an ordeal, and were held guilty of any accusa- 
tion if they could not put their hands in boiling water with- 
out harm. For freemen, if no other evidence was accessible, 
a trial by battle was adopted, as an appeal to God's judg- 
ment. The heathen tribes in Germany proper — the Frisi, 
Saxons, Thuringians, and Allemanni — lived on in their old 
ways ; yet they too failed to maintain the spotless character 
assigned them by Tacitus. It was a time of general ferment ; 
the new elements of civilization had brought with them new 
vices, and the simplicity of earlier days could not survive. 

§ 14. The loosely formed kingdoms of the German warriors 
could not withstand a serious attack from an organized pow- 
er. Two of them were thus assailed by the emperor Justin- 
ian (a.d. 527-565), who, for a time, raised the Eastern Empire 
again to power and consequence. He also codified the Ro- 
man laws, and carried on successful wars, aided by eminent 
generals. In the year 533 he sent Belisarius to Africa, where 
the Vandals had grown effeminate and were at strife among 
themselves, while the conquered people were sorely oppress- 
ed, and were at heart inclined to the Eastern Empire, as of 
the same creed with themselves. Belisarius arrived in Africa 



Chap. II. DESTEUCTION OF THE OSTROGOTHS. 51 

with his fleet, after many dangers; defeated Gelimer, the king 
of the Vandals, and compelled him to take refuge at last in 
a rocky fortress called Pappua, where Pharas, a lieutenant 
of Belisarius, besieged him the winter long. Believing, at 
length, that Gelimer would be compelled, by want, to sur- 
render, Pharas summoned him ; and he refused, sending this 
answer: "If you, my dear Pharas, wish to do me a favor, 
send me a loaf of bread, a sponge, and a harp." When Pha- 
ras, in surprise, asked what such a request could mean, the 
messenger said : " The king asks for bread, because he has 
seen none since he entered Pappua; for a sponge, to cool his 
eyes, now fiery with Avine ; and for a harp, to sing to it of his 
misfortunes." Pharas was moved, and granted the request; 
and soon after, in extreme hunger and want, Gelimer surren- 
dered. Belisarius carried him, in silver chains, with all his 
treasures, to Constantinople, where he was treated kindly. 
The Vandals now disappeared from Africa, which again be- 
came a province of the Empire (a.d, 534). 

§ 15. The East Goths made a more heroic opposition to 
Justinian. Theodoric the Great died in the year 526. He 
left but one child, a daughter, Amalasuntha ; and the hopes 
of the Goths centred upon her son, Athanaric, as the last of 
the Amali. But he lived a dissolute life, and died young. 
Amalasuntha resolved to associate with herself in the gov- 
ernment Deodatus, a kinsman of her house, whom Theodoric 
had always despised. Wishing to be sole monarch, Deoda- 
tus had Amalasuntha assassinated in her bath. Justinian 
felt bound, by the friendship which had long existed be- 
tween the Eastern emperors and the Amali, to avenge her; 
her death at least gave him a pretext for adding Italy to his 
conquests. In the year 536, Belisarius led an army against 
the East Goths, who, however, had quickly rid themselves, 
of the shameless and dastardly murderer, and elevated Viti- 
ges, one of their own princes, on the shield. The conflict in 
Italy was for a long time doubtful. The whole country was 
exhausted of men, especially the cities of Rome and Milan ; 
while the Franks, Burgundians, and AUemanni also took part. 
Finally Belisarius took Ravenna, the strongest city of Italy, 
and carried off Vitiges as a prisoner to Constantinople, re- 
garding this as the end of the war. But the Goths chose 



52 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

another king, Totilas, who held his ground bravely, and at 
last led the remnant of his people against the emperor's new 
lieutenant, Narses, who had brought a mixed army of Greek, 
German, and Sclavonic mercenaries into Italy. The forces 
joined battle at the passes of the Apennines, near the ancient 
Sentinum, and Totilas was slain. But the East Goths, with 
unbroken spirit, chose young Teias king; and he led them 
bravely through a thousand perils, to their last battle-ground, 
that of the Lactarian Mountain. It is on the Gulf of Naples, 
in the beautiful valley by which the torrent Sarno reaches the 
sea, near Nuceria and the buried Pompeii, and opposite to 
Vesuvius. Here Narses iirst cut off their retreat to the sea; 
and then drove them back upon the mountain, where there 
was neither food for the beasts nor even water for the men. 
They turned their horses loose, and formed themselves in a 
great, close square of battle, Teias himself standing at one 
corner like a tower, and offered a last desperate resistance 
to the foe. For a whole day the outnumbered Goths fought 
like the giants of the Nibelungen lays, till at last, while Teias 
was changing his shield, a lance laid him dead on the ground. 
Through another day the struggle continued, and on the third 
morning, Narses determined to give quarter to the last rem- 
nant of a once great and famous people, now reduced to one 
thousand fighting men. They marched undisturbed across 
the Alps, and were merged in the other German tribes. Thus 
the Ostrogoths, too, were finally overthrown (a.d. 553), and 
Italy became a province of the Eastern Empire. It was 
governed by Narses, as viceroy of the emperor at Byzantium ; 
but, as we shall soon see, it was not long retained, the Empire 
soon suffering terrible losses. 

§ 16. Scarcely a half-century after this time the Arabian 
prophet Mohammed appeared, with his new doctrines. He 
was born at Mecca a.d. 569, four years after Justinian's 
death. He was of a noble Arab family ; and when forty 
years of age proclaimed himself the prophet of a new divine 
reveUtion. He labored for many years in vain to make dis- 
ciples, and in a.d. 622 was driven from Mecca (the Hegira) ; 
but was received at Medina as a prince, and soon after ac- 
knowledged as priest and king. In ten years more he had 
subdued all Arabia. He died at Medina, June 7, 632, leav- 



Chap. II. THE LANGOBARDS IN ITALY. 53 

ing a military religion to be propagated by arms, to the 
" Caliphs," or " successors," with the assurance to warriors 
who should fall in its cause of a luxurious paradise hereafter. 
The caliphs, with their hosts of Moslem, stormed their con- 
quering way against all Asia, but, above all, against the East- 
ern Empire. Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Afiica were sub- 
jected to the new faith. Thus a new Mohammedan and 
Arabian power arose in the East, as a German Christian su- 
premacy had arisen in the West. In the year 711, Tarik, the 
lieutenant of Musa, ventured to cross from Africa into Spain, 
and overthrew the kingdom of the Visigoths, a people who 
had long degenerated from their German ancestors, and whose 
kingjRoderic, lost his crown and his life in the battle at Xeres 
de la Frontera. 

§ 17. Italy, as we have seen, had been made by Narses a 
province of the Eastern Empire. Narses became the gover- 
nor of the conquered country. But, like Belisarius, he was 
treated ungratefully, and he sought revenge by inviting into 
Italy a new German tribe, the Langobardi, who now obtained 
a permanent supremacy there. They were North Germans, 
akin to the Saxons, and dwelt first on the left bank of the 
Elbe, in what is now Hanover ; afterward in Altmark, and 
finally, as we have seen, in Moravia. Spreading thence along 
the Danube, they came in conflict first with the Heruli, and 
then with the Gepidse, whom they defeated, and in part sub- 
jugated. The history of their kings, their wanderings, and 
their wars, is told in old heroic poems ; and is recorded with 
great traditional fullness in the writings of their annalist, 
Paulus Diaconus, who lived in the time of Charlemagne. 
When the invitation of Narses reached them, accompanied 
with specimens of rich southern fruits, to show the excellence 
of the soil, their king was the mighty Alboin, who had slain 
Kunimund, king of the Gepidse, in battle, with his own hand, 
and had taken to wife his daughter Rosamund. He accept- 
ed the invitation, and in the year 568 the Langobards marched 
into Italy. They subdued nearly the whole peninsula. The 
Greeks retained only what they could protect with their fleet 
— Sicily, and a few strips of land on the coast, Ravenna, Na- 
|)les, and Genoa, the whole being afterward known as the 
Exarchate. Rome, too, remained a nominal dependency of 



54 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

the Empire ; but, in fact, it was almost independent, under 
the ecclesiastical government of the pope. The situation of 
Venice, under its Doge (Herzog, duke), was much the same. 
All the rest of Italy fell into the hands of the Langobards, 
and was distributed by the king among his dukes or gener- 
als. But Alboin himself soon fell a victim to the vengeance 
of his wife, Rosamund. In a fit of drunkenness he compelled 
her to drink to him from her own father's skull, of which he 
had made a cup, in memory of his victory. She prevailed on 
her paramour, Helmichis, one of Alboin's noble attendants, 
to murder her husband in his sleep (a.d. 573). 

§ 18. The dukes chose Clepho (a.d. 573-574) to succeed 
Alboin ; but he, too, was murdered the next year, and then 
Italy was distracted for ten years by their attempt to govern 
their several duchies, during the minority of Clepho's son, 
Antharis, without a king. But Antharis, on coming of age, 
ascended the throne (a.d. 584-590), and set up his spear at 
the Straits of Messina, in token that he had subjugated Italy 
to its very end. Tradition and song celebrate his courtship 
of Theudolinda, daughter of Garibald, the Duke of the Bava- 
rians. It seems that the king was fascinated by the reports 
which reached him of Theudolinda's charms and virtue ; and 
not only sent a noble embassy to ask her hand, but, too im- 
patient to await the reply, escaped in disguise from his own 
court, and visited the court of Bavaria in the train of his em- 
bassadors. Here he was fortunate enough to find opportuni- 
ties for conducting his courtship in person, and thus won the 
heart as well as the hand of his bride. Antharis lived only 
long enough for his queen Theudolinda to become the idol of 
his people; and at his death, a.d. 590, the nation with one 
accord called on her to dispose of her hand and of their crown 
together. She married Agilulf, who was at once accepted 
as their king. Theudolinda built the cathedral at Monza, 
in which was thenceforth preserved the crown of Lombardy, 
called " the iron crown," because a nail from the cross of 
Christ had been worked into it. Her reign did much to civil- 
ize the still rude Lombards, who, though already converted 
to Christianity before they entered Italy, were still attached 
to many heathen customs. In this work she found support 
in Pope Gregory the Great (a.d, 590-604). Many of the 



Chap. II. THE LOMBARDS IN ITALY. 55 

Lombards, at this early period, united with the Catholic 
Church ; though others retained their Arian faith, until, un- 
der King Grimwald (a.d. 663-671), the whole body of the 
people accepted the creed of Rome. The Lombards, though 
a fierce and wild race of old, were yet of a nature open to 
culture ; and they now became industrious agriculturists, in 
whose hands the wasted land recovered its fruitfulness. Aft- 
erward the kingly office, which was elective, constantly de- 
clined in importance among the Lombards, as the dukes 
grasped at greater independence. This was especially the 
case in the border districts, in Benevento, Friaul, and Trent. 
The land soon after suffered much from the inroads of the 
Avari — a tribe, not of German origin, which entered Hun- 
gary from the East when the Germans left it, but kept march- 
ing out, like the Huns, in fierce mounted swarms, upon distant 
expeditions in search of plunder. The Langobards, or Lom- 
bards, became merged in the permanent population of North- 
ern Italy. Although they had but little influence upon the 
language — as little as the Goths in Spain — yet something of 
their character and traditions may still be traced among the 
Italians of Lombardy and Venetia, where, indeed, down to 
the time of the Crusades, German manners and customs pre- 
vailed among a large part of the people. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PEANKS, THE MBEOVINGIANS, AND THE FAMILY OP PEPIN, 
A.D. 481-768. 

§ 1. The Franks and Clovis. § 2. His Conquest of Gaul. § 3. He Mar- 
ries Clotilde of Burgundy. § 4. Conquers the Allemanni, and becomes 
a Christian. § 5. Subdues Brittany and part of Burgundy. § 6. Unites 
the Franks under his Monarchy. § 7. The Sons of Clovis. § 8. Thu- 
ringia Conquered and Divided. § 9. Burgundy added to the Kingdom. 
§ 10. Clothaire I. Fredegonda and Brunehilde. § 11. Origin of the Feu- 
dal System. § 12. Constitution of the Feudal Kingdom. § 18. Its Ef- 
fects on Society and Relations to the Church. § 1 4. The Mayors of the 
Palace : Pepin of Landen, Pepin of Heristal, and Charles Martel. § 15. 
Charles Martel Defeats the Saracens, and Consolidates the Monarchy. 
§ 16. Pepin the Short assumes the Crown. § 17. His Eelations to the 
Pope. § 18. Christianity among the Germans. Irish Missionaries. §19. 
Anglo-Saxon Missionaries. § 20. The Parisian Missions. § 21. Winfred, 
or Boniface, in Friesland. § 22. In Central Germany. § 23. The Epis- 
copal Sees and the Cities. § 24. Martyrdom of Boniface. § 25. Church, 
Religion, and Morals. 

§ 1. It became evident soon after the fall of the Western 
Empire that the Franks, of all the great German tribes, were 
the most capable of founding a stable government, and of 
becoming a powerful nation. They had always been robbers 
and pirates, like the other tribes ; but were distinguished 
from the others by their superior military discipline, and es- 
pecially by their pride and ambition. No other Germans 
were equal to them in the appreciation of heroic deeds and 
the thirst for fame. They formed two distinct bodies — the 
Salic Franks and the Ripuarian Franks. The former were 
the descendants of that branch of the original stock whicli 
settled along the lower waters of the Rhine and the Maas, and 
became incorporated with the Roman military colony of the 
Sigambri. Their territory included what is now Brabant 
and South Gelderland, between the Rivers Yssel, Maas, and 
Schelde. The other branch, the Ripuarians, were a mixture 
of Bructeri and Chatti, and dwelt at first in the mountains 
between the Sieg and the Ruhr, but pressed forward to the* 



Chap. III. CLOVIS, KING OF THE FRANKS. 57 

Rhine in the neighborhood of Cologne. The Salic I'ranks 
spread along the Maas and the Sambre, into the neighbor- 
hood of Liittich, and through Belgium into Gaul. All the 
Franks were regarded as formidable warriors. Few of them 
wore helmets and mail ; their breasts and backs were covered 
only by the shield. From the hips downward they wrapped 
themselves in close-fitting linen or leather, so as to display 
each man's tall, upright form. Their principal weapon was 
the two-edged battle-axe, which served for throwing as well 
as striking. They also carried frightful javelins with barbed 
points. Their own laws describe them as brave warriors, 
profound in their plans, manly and healthy in body, hand- 
some, bold, impetuous, and hardy. But their enemies, per- 
haps with some justice, denounced them as the most faithless 
and cruel of men. The distinguishing ornament of the kings 
was their hair, which was left uncut, flowing freely over the 
shoulder. The people were still heathen, untamed and un- 
civilized, yet in constant intercourse with the Romans in 
Gaul. But they gradually began to make conquests for 
themselves among the Gauls, advancing from the north, and 
Aetius was the first to check them. Childeric, son of Mero- 
vgeus, their first king, being driven out by the Salic Franks 
for his immorality, took refuge with Basinus, king of the 
Thuringi, who received him hospitably. His return was to 
seduce the wife of Basinus. He married her when he Avas 
able to return to his own realm, and she bore him Clovis. 

§ 2. Clovis was the founder of the kingdom of the Franks. 
In 481^ on reaching the age of fifteen, he accompanied his 
father in war, and in 486 led his Salic Franks to the con- 
quest of Gaul. The last remnant of this province, after the 
fall of the Western Empire, had become an independent king- 
dom, first under Aetius, and, after his assassination, under 
^gidius. At this time Syagrius, son of ^gidius, ruled what 
was left of Roman Gaul. Clovis, in the German fashion, 
challenged him to appoint a place and time for a decisive 
contest, and the Roman eagerly accepted the challenge. The 
battle was fought at Soissons in 486. Syagrius was defeated, 
and fled to the king of the Visigoths, but was basely given 
up to Clovis, who put him to death. Clovis and his Franks 
occupied Gaul as far as the Loire. This river now separated 



58 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

them from the Visigoths, and the Moselle from the Allemanni, 
while the Cote d'Or was their frontier toward Burgundy. 

§ 3. The Burgundians, whose possessions extended from the 
comb of the high Alps to the Cevennes and to the Rhone at 
Avignon, were ruled by two brothers, Gundobald and Gode- 
gisel, the former having assassinated a third brother, Chil- 
peric, and slain a fourth, Godeman, in battle. Clovis asked 
for Chilperic's surviving daughter, Clotilde, in marriage, thus 
making a pretext for war, whatever the result of his suit might 
be. If the kings of the Burgundians should reject it, he would 
have an insult to avenge ; if they should give him Clotilde, 
he would become the joint heir with her of part of the land, 
and of the duty of avenging her murdered father. The broth- 
ers did not dare to refuse him ; but Clotilde, though a Chris- 
tian, gave orders, while on her bridal journey to Clovis, to 
burn the villages on the borders of her uncle's territory, and 
when she saw the country lighted up with burning homes, 
gave thanks to God for preserving her to this day of ven- 
geance. Clovis, however, still kept quiet. But the marriage 
was also significant in another way. Clotilde urged her hus- 
band to become a Christian. He hesitated long, but yielded 
during his war with the Allemanni. 

§ 4. These Allemanni, who first settled along the Upper 
Rhine, and down the Danube as far as the Lech, had now 
spread down the Rhine and to the Moselle, and were pressing 
upon the Ripuarian Franks at Cologne. King Sigbert, a kins- 
man of Clovis, appealed to him for aid. Clovis came, and met 
them in the year 496, in a hard-fought battle, the scene of 
which it is difticult to identify, though it was long known as 
the battle of Zulpich. While the result was in doubt, Clovis, 
in the face of his army, called upon the new God, Christ, and 
vowed to serve him, if he would help him now. He was vic- 
torious ; received instruction from St. Remigius, and was then 
baptized, with three thousand of his noblest Franks, in the 
cathedral at Rheims. " Bow thy head in silence, Sigambrian," 
said the saint ; " worship what thou hast hitherto destroyed ; 
war against what thou hast worshiped." This was by no 
means the only instance of wholesale conversions to Chris- 
tianity in consequence of a victory. The heathen, when de- 
feated by Christians, commonly ascribed the result to the 



Chap. III. CONQUESTS OF CLOVIS. 59 

superior strength of the Christian God, and often resolved to 
seek his protection for themselves. It was the Catholic, not 
the Arian faith, which Clovis adopted. He was straightway 
recognized by the pope as "the most Christian king," the 
appointed protector and propagator of the true faith against 
Arian Germany. The Allemanni were subjected, as far as the 
Rhine and beyond it. The country upon the Lalen, the Main, 
and the Neckar, up to Laufen, was taken from them, and was 
thenceforth called Franconia (Franken) ; though those who 
lived in the land, stretching from the Neckar across the Dan- 
ube and to the Alps, were protected by Theodoric the Great 
from destruction. 

§ 5. Soon afterward Clovis marched against the Burgun- 
dians. King Gundobald, betrayed by his brother, Godegisel, 
was defeated at Dijon, a.d. 500. He fled to the fortified city 
of Avignon, and took the oath of homage to the king of the 
Franks. But he broke his oath, slew his brother, and united 
all the Burgundians under his own rule, so that he was strong- 
er than before. Clovis was compelled to let him alone ; but 
compensated himself by subduing at this time the Celtic pop- 
ulation of Armorica (Brittany). The country of the Visi- 
goths, south of the Loire, was now the only part of Gaul not 
subject to him, A series of illustrious kings had followed 
Adolphus (Althaulf) here, but their throne was now filled by 
the weak Alaric H., son-in-law of Theodoric the Great. Re- 
ligion gave Clovis his pretext and support in this new enter- 
prise. " It annoys me that these heretics hold the finest part 
of Gaul," he said to his followers : " let us, with God's help, 
march forth and subdue them." In spite of warnings and 
threats from Theodoric the Great, he attacked Alaric ; Gun- 
dobald accompanied him, though perhaps on compulsion. 
The Catholic population of the country took part with Clo- 
vis, and against their Arian masters, and aided him on his 
way to a victory at Bougie, near Poitiers (a.d. 507). Alaric 
was slain, and Clovis became master of the country as far as 
the Garonne. Since Theodoric the Great took young Amal- 
ric, his grandson, under his protection, the south of Gaul was 
left to him; but Provence was annexed to the kingdom of 
the Ostrogoths, and Avignon, too, was wrested from Gundo- 
bald. Henceforth Spain is the chief seat of the still flourish- 



60 HISTOKY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

ing kingdom of the Visigoths (until a.d. Vll), with Toledo 
for its capital instead of Toulouse. 

§ 6. In order to unite all the Franks under his crown, Clo- 
vis went on, by fraud and violence, to secure to himself the 
remnants of the tribe, which had hitherto remained in their 
ancient homes, ruled by petty independent kings, his kindred. 
He sent to the son of Sigbert, the Ripuarian king, who had 
long been his faithful ally and friend, this message : " Your 
father is lame, and too old to remain king." But when the 
son, listening to this wily suggestion, had his father assassin- 
ated while hunting in the beechwood (Buchonia, now Vo- 
gelsberg, in Hesse, perhaps Ciesar's Bacenis), Clovis caused 
the youth to be slain, to avenge his father, and himself to be 
acknowledged as king of the tribe. Against another prince 
he stirred up his noblemen, bribing them with gifts to de- 
throne him; and then struck him down with a battle-axe 
before his army. For every such deed he had an apt saying 
ready, with that sort of rough wit for which his race are 
still noted. When he had put all his kindred out of the way, 
he was often heard to lament that he was left friendless and 
alone ; but this, too, was out of cunning, in order that any 
of his relations who might have escaped him should be in- 
duced to reveal himself, and so fall into his power. Never- 
theless the sharp contrast between his brutal and bloody con- 
duct and the Christian faith he professed seemed strange to 
.no one, in that wild time, and in this, the wildest of the Ger- 
man tribes. Even Bishop Gregory, of Tours, the annalist 
of the ancient Franks, says of Clovis : " Tlius God daily cut 
down his enemies under his hand, because he walked before 
him with an upright heart, and did that which was well-pleas- 
ing in his eyes." Anastasius, the emperor of the East, was 
eager to recover at least such a semblance of sovereign- 
ty over Clovis as he possessed over Theodoric; and with 
this view he sent him a message of congratulation upon his 
victories, and nominated him to the dignity of a Roman Pa- 
trician and Consul, Clovis rode proudly out before his 
Franks, in the purple mantle sent to him from Constantino- 
ple ; for still the name of Rome and of the empire retained 
even among barbarians that magic power which it had ex- 
ercised for centuries; and it was now for the first time that 



Chap. III. DEATH OF CLOVIS. 61 

the throne of the King of the Franks seemed to the former 
subjects of Rome to be established in right. Clovis was the 
founder of the kingdom of the Franks ; he built it up with 
many a deed of blood, but with extraordinary vigor and dar- 
ing. Beginning at the Garonne on the south, following the 
course of the Cevennes and the Cote d'Or, it then extended 
eastward far beyond the Rhine, to the Neckar, Main, and 
Werra, and, farther north, embraced the plains of the Lower 
Rhine down to the sea. On the west it was bounded by the 
Atlantic Ocean. This empire comprised German as well as 
Roman territory ; but struck root firmly in the old native 
soil, from which it drew ever new strength ; and therefore it 
was that its duration was not merely momentary, like that 
of the Gothic kingdoms, but it proved the beginning of the 
monarchy of the Middle Ages, the beginning of a new national 
life, in which Roman form was animated with fresh German 
strength. Clovis ruled his wide realm from Paris, a city 
which had existed even before the days of Caesar and the 
Romans in Gaul. In Paris he died, in 511, at the early age 
of forty-five. 

§ 7. Clovis left four sons,* among whom, by the custom 
of the Franks, the country was divided. They inherited their 
father's bloody and violent disposition. The oldest, Theod- 
oric, though the child of an early marriage with a heathen 
woman, had the largest share. The whole eastern division, 
including all the strictly German territory, fell to him ; it 
was thenceforth called Austrasia, and his royal residence was 

* Clovis, died 511. 



Theodoric (ThieiTv). Clodomir, d. .524. Childebert, d. 534. ClothaireI.,d.561. 

! ■ 1 

Theodebert. Theodowald, Gunther 

(murdered by tbeir uncles). 



Theobald, d. 555. Charibert. Guntram. Chilperic Sigbert 

Cm. Fredegonda). (m. Brunehllde). 

I 
Clothaire II. 



Dagobert, d. 638. Charibert. 



62 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

at Metz. The three younger brothers, sons of Clotilde, di- 
vided the western and formerly Roman part, now called 
Neustria, between them ; Clodomir reigning in Orleans over 
the country around it, Childebert in Paris, and Clothaire in 
Soissons. But the more remote provinces were so divided 
among the brothers that no one of them could visit all his 
own possessions without passing through those of the others. 
Nor was the division an absolute partition of the sovereignty. 
The kingdom of the Franks was still regarded as one, ruled 
by the Merovingian family, the descendants of Clovis. The 
sons carried on their conquests in common. 

§ 8. In the kingdom of Thuringia, the sons of Basinus had 
also made a division; but Irmenfried, the eldest, who married 
a niece of Theodoric the Great, a princess of the house of 
the Amali, was induced by her to dethrone and slay his 
two brothers. Certain Franks had already shared in these 
proceedings ; and they now complained of this violation 
of a compact, and of other cruelties long ago perpetrated 
by the Thuringi, but still unpunished. " Old men," they 
declared, " had been laid in the way of heavy wagons, and 
their limbs crushed ; boys had been hung up on trees by 
the sinews of the side." To such a degree had the character 
even of the unmixed German tribes degenerated. On this 
pretext Clevis's sons Theodoric and Clothaire made war on 
Irmenfried. After a first reverse, Irmenfried retreated ; but 
the Franks still saw no prospect of a triumph until the Sax- 
ons offered to aid them. The two nations together succeed- 
ed in overthrowing the kingdom of the Thuringians. Their 
last fortress, Burgscheidungen, was taken ; Irmenfried gave 
himself up to Theodoric, and soon after, while walking unsus- 
piciously by his side on the walls of Zillpich, was basely hurl- 
ed down by him to the plain. Such is the account given by 
Gregory of Tours; but Widukind of Corbei, a Saxon chron- 
icler of the tenth century, evidently with Saxon heroic min- 
strels for his authorities, amplifies and richly adorns the story, 
making the fall of Irmenfried and his knight Irinc glorious. 
Both these heroes were celebrated afterward in the popular 
songs of the Germans, and appear in the Nibelungeu, where 
they are said to have been slain by the swords of Hagen and 
Volker. The Saxons and the Franks divided the land; the 



Chap. III. THE SONS OF CLOVIS. 63 

former taking the rich valley of North Thuringia, and the 
region south of the Hartz as far as the Unsti'utt, while the rest 
of it was annexed by the Franks, a.d, 530. 

§ 9. Burgundy remained free through the life of Gundo- 
bald, who died in 516. He was succeeded by his sons God- 
emar and St. Sigismund, the latter the founder of the monas- 
tery of St. Maurice, in Wallis, where the holy spear was pre- 
served. This king married first a daughter of Theodoric 
the Great, but she soon died; and he then married one of her 
attendant women, who, when seen proudly arrayed in the 
ornaments of her late mistress, was insulted by Siegrich, the 
son of the deceased wife. She now demanded of his father 
the life of Siegrich, and he was strangled in sleep. By this 
act Sigismund not only defied the vengeance of the Ostro- 
goths, who had hitherto j^rotected Burgundy, but exposed 
himself defenselessly to the attacks of the Franks. The 
three sons of Clovis and Clotilde — Clodomir, Childebert, and 
Clothaire — joined in an attack on him, a.d, 523, and defeated 
liim ; and Clodomir had him, with his wife and children, 
thrown into a Avell ; but was soon after drawn into an am- 
bush by Sigismund's brother, and slain. Childebert and 
Clothaire divided Clodomir's land between them, though he 
had left two sons, who were under Clotilde's protection. The 
uncles brought the boys to Paris, and sent their grandmother 
a sword and a pair of shears, indicating that she must choose 
whether they should be slain, or shorn and confined in a con- 
vent. "Let them rather die," cried Clotilde; and the bloody 
Clothaire, unmoved by their touching prayers, slew them with 
his own hand in the royal court-yard at Paris. Thus violence 
and murder prevailed in the house of the Merovingians. 
Meanwhile Godemar, Sigismund's brother, made himself mas- 
ter of Burgundy, and sustained himself eight years, till he 
fell in 532. Then the Franks seized the country, and thence- 
forth Burgundy formed, besides Austrasia and Neustria, the 
third grand division of the kingdom of the Franks. 

§ 10. The Franks also took part in the death-struggle 
of the Ostrogoths in Italy, to further their own conquests, 
faithlessly taking sides, now with the Goths, and now wath 
the Eastern Empire. In this way they obtained, besides all 
Provence, the remnant of Allemannia, which, as we have seen. 



64 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

had formerly been in alliance with Theodoric. After the 
fall of the Ostrogoths, in 553, Bavaria, too, fell to the lot of 
the Agilulfingers, a ducal house dependent on the Franks. 

As the families of other sons of Clovis became suddenly- 
extinct, and Clothaire survived his brothers, the entire em- 
pire of the Franks was once more united, with him as its 
sole sovereign. On his death, in 561, his sons made a new 
division, and again fraternal war and bloodshed became gen- 
eral among the Franks. Barbarous manners spread fright- 
fully. There is scarcely a I'ecord of any people richer in 
cruelties than the Franks, or of any royal house more abun- 
dant in crimes and blood than the Merovingians. Above 
all others, two of their queens distinguished themselves by 
their inextinguishable thirst for revenge, and their names are 
still memorable for their crimes. Chilperic and Sigbert, 
two of Clothaire's sons, married two sisters, Galeswintha and 
Brunehilde (Brunehaut), daughters of Athanagild, king of 
the Visigoths. Chilperic for this purpose put away his pre- 
vious wife, or mistress, the low-born Fredegonda ; but she 
mui'dered her favored rival, and resumed her place beside the 
weak Chilperic. Brunehilde undertook to avenge her sister, 
and stirred up her husband, Sigbert, to war against his brother, 
A long series of battles and murders followed, during which 
Fredegonda caused her own husband, Chilperic, to be assas- 
sinated. It was not until the house of the Merovingians had 
been nearly exterminated in their fraternal strife, and the 
gray-haired Brunehilde, after long endurance of tortures and 
insult, was dragged to death, lashed to the tail of a wild 
horse, that peace was given to the kingdom by her conqueror, 
Clothaire II., son of Chilperic. He reigned from 613 to 622 
over the entire kingdom, once more united. He was suc- 
ceeded by his sons Dagobert and Charibert, who again di- 
vided the land ; the latter taking only a small territory 
stretching from the Garonne to Charente ; but he increased 
it by conquering what was left of the kingdom of the Visi- 
goths between the Garonne and the Pyrenees. This con- 
quest remained in the possession of his descendants as the 
duchy of Aquitaine. 

From the time of Dagobert, the history of the Merovingian 
kings — the very little that is known of it — is quieter and less 



Chap. III. THE FEUDAL TENURE OF LANDS. 65 

bloody indeed ; but the vigor of the dynasty was also gone, 
and the kings became mere shadows of power, beside their 
high officers of state. In after-days, the degeneracy of the 
house was pictured in a fabled dream, which Basina, Clovis's 
mother, was said by magic art to have caused her husband to 
see. In his dream, Childeric saw, as their own immediate off- 
spring, a lion (Clovis) ; then, in the next generation, ravenous 
bears and wolves (the sons and grandsons of Clovis) ; and 
finally playful puppies (the "do-nothing kings," " les rois 
faineants"). Certainly the dream well represented the facts. 
§ 11. In spite of these disorders and civil wars, the Franks 
had from the first a more settled and stable government 
than the rest of the Germans. After Clovis overthrew 
Syagrius, he left the conquered population in possession of 
the soil ; but the public domains and abandoned estates were 
so extensive that they .afforded rich prizes for him and his 
friends. Upon his victory over the Allemanni, he had taken 
for his own the estates of their nobles and of all the slain, 
forming a great royal domain. The same policy was after- 
ward followed by the sons of Clovis in Burgundy, Thuringia, 
and Bavaria. Thus most of the conquered territory became 
the booty and property of the king. It was necessary, in- 
deed, to distribute lands among the people who had followed 
him to victory. Every man had a portion of the newly ac- 
quired territory allotted to him as his private and exclusive 
property, his allodium, as the Latin writers of the Middle 
Ages call land held in absolute ownership. But, in addition, 
the king distributed to his faithful friends and highest officers, 
out of his own domain, which was too large for him to super- 
intend alone, lands the ownership of which remained in him. 
These lands were regarded as lent for the use of the holders; 
they were called feuds, fiefs, fees (Anglo-Saxon feoh, a re- 
ward), and were therefore said to be held hj feudal tenure. 
Thus the land still belonged to the lord paramount, under 
whose favor the occupant (fiefee, or vassal) held it, though 
the tenure, unless forfeited by a breach of faith (called felony, 
from fee and Ion, price or value, because the crime was the 
price or forfeiture of the fee), was commonly for life. No 
rent was paid, money being a rare commodity. The vassal 
was simply bound to join the lord's army in all wars ; not 

F 



66 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

only in those of national concern, in which the community 
must be consulted, but in the merely personal disputes of 
the lord himself; and he must from time to time appear at 
court to do homage. Thus the feudal system grew up in the 
kingdom of the Franks, and afterward became the foundation 
of the monarchies of the Middle Ages. Similar relations be- 
tween lord and vassal grew up elsewhere also, among the 
Goths, Lombards, and other nations, but as yet in a less com- 
plete form. 

The victorious Franks were at first but an army, of which 
the king was the commander, with his lieutenants or counts 
dependent on him. But as the nation became more set- 
tled, these military officers became high ministers of state in 
the civil government. Thus arose barons, counts, and local 
judges, with jurisdiction to administer the king's laws in 
greater or smaller districts. The Franks having adopted 
the Catholic faith, the priesthood was not disturbed. The 
Germans preferred a military career for themselves, so that 
the priests were nearly all from the conquered people, 
and spoke Latin. Like the soldiers, they received their pay, 
not in money, but in land ; and the churches were endowed 
with land, partly by gifts, and partly by the grant of fiefs. 
To each of the higher clergy — the bishops and archbishops 
— the king granted a fee around the cathedral, or principal 
chui'ch of his diocese, valuable enough to set them high 
among the lords of the land. Thus men of Latin orio-in 
found their way into the council of the king, and mingled 
with the chief noblemen of the Franks. The Church soon 
grew rich, and became able to grant minor fees of its own, 
just as the great nobles did. Thus subordinate fees came 
into being ; smaller estates, held, not like those of the great 
noblemen, directly from the king, but from these nobles or 
from the Church ; and the holders afterward grew into the 
lower orders of nobility. The general freedom and equality 
of the earlier Germans, which was founded on the people's 
absolute proprietorship of their lands, nearly disappeared in 
the conquered territories, in Allemannia and Thuringia ; the 
original owniers being dispossessed, and the great fees held 
of the king taking their place. Indeed, many even of the 
Franks found it to their advantage to yield up their jjroper- 



Chap. III. THE GREAT OFFICERS OF THE COURT. 67 

ty, their allodium^ to the Church or to some great nobleman, 
and to receive it back, usually with additions, as vassals and 
in fee. Thus, from this time, the number of free citizens 
among the Franks was steadily on the decrease, the more so 
that the kind of dependence and service connected with a 
feudal tenure was no longer associated with humiliation in 
the German mind ; although it reduced the tenant in rank 
from a freeman to a vassal, 

§ 12. Over all men in the nation the King of the Franks 
was supreme. The dynasty in power was still regarded by 
the Germans as having something of that sacredness with 
which their ancient traditions clothed royalty, and remain- 
ed on the throne until it became extinct, when the right 
of election revived in the whole body of the people. The 
chosen one received their homage, in the ancient German 
style, by being elevated on the shield. As the badge of his 
high oiSce, the king wore about his head, from which his 
long hair fell unshorn, a golden band ; and in war this band 
was put on his helmet. In his hand he held the royal staff, 
which afterward became the sceptre ; then but a rod, cut 
from the tree and whitened. In this fashion he traversed the 
country, in a car drawn by oxen, visiting his domains ; and, 
at every place designated as a seat of justice, presided on a 
lofty throne, administering the laws in jjerson. His imme- 
diate vassals, Avho were bound to attend his court, the great 
nobles of the land (called antrustiones^ or confidants), w^re 
at his side. Out of these were chosen the officers whose 
duty was the personal service of the king ; the royal treas- 
urer, who kept the crown-jewels; the marshal, whose prov- 
ince was the royal stables; the steward, who furnished the 
king's table ; and the butler, who provided and served the 
wine. To these four offices was added that of the king's 
deputies, or counts palatine {pfalz-g7'afen)^ who, in the ab- 
sence of the monarch, exercised the royal prerogative in the 
royal domains, and sat as supreme judges there ; and that 
of the major-domAs, or mayor of the palace, who commanded 
the king's horsemen or knights, and rapidly acquired great 
influence in the confiscation and distribution of fiefs. The 
last-named office soon became tl)e most imjDortant in the 
kinodom. 



68 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

§ 13. Thus the original condition of the Germans, as de- 
scribed by Tacitus, had already been greatly changed. The 
freemen of the small communities and district assemblies, 
during the great migrations, became the soldiers of an army, 
and received as their pay a part of the conquered land, 
in absolute ownership. These again, in the kingdom of the 
Franks, became vassals of the king, who was acknowledged 
as the lord paramount of the whole land. The feudal rela- 
tions grew into a complicated network, binding the Germans 
together in a national unity ; although it was their nature 
always to aim at a free and individual life, and this peculiar- 
ity, deeply rooted in their character, made it very difficult 
to combine and organize them, or to fuse them into a state. 
Thus it was upon the basis of the feudal system that their 
civil society first took the form of a state, which deserves 
the name of a kingdom, because it was under the control of 
a single purpose and of an orderly constitution. Upon this 
state the Church already exercised a great influence, al- 
though it was as yet but loosely connected with Rome and 
with the pope. Yet the Church retained a remnant of Roman 
culture ; it clung to the Latin language, and, with all its 
rudeness, still seemed, in contrast with the rough, fierce 
Franks, to be the representative of civilization and morality. 
Often enough did a priest mediate with a cruel Frank mas- 
ter in behalf of an abused slave, and sometimes the remon- 
strance of a bishop touched the heart of a wicked king. 
But, above all, the churches afibrded a sanctuary for refugees 
of every class ; they had what was called the right of asy- 
lum. Not only the altar and the temple, but the whole sa- 
cred inclosure of courts and buildings, with their appurte- 
nances, was reverenced as inviolable. In the popular faith, 
the violator of these sanctuaries brought upon himself the 
vengeance of their guardian saints, in the form of frightful 
injuries; and pursuers preferred to keep watch for a long- 
time around such a holy place rather than to invade it with 
violence ; as, for example, Chilperic, when his son Merovaeus 
took refuge from him in the church of St. Martin of Tours. 
This saint and his asylum were especially reverenced by the 
Franks ever after the time of Clovis. Thus the Church, 
though slowly and gradually, contributed to the education 



Chap. III. THE MAYORS OF THE PALACE. 69 

of the people, who were as yet Christians only in name, and 
whose morality was really lower than that of the ancient 
Germans in their heathen days. 

§ 14. The important office of mayor of the palace, which 
existed in each of the three great divisions of the kingdom 
— Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy — was obtained in Aus- 
trasia, under Dagobert I. (a.d. 628-638), by Pepin of Landen. 
He belonged to a noble Frank family, akin to the Merovin- 
gians, which had extensive possessions on the river Maas, in 
the neighborhood of Namur, Luttich, and Maastricht. The 
power of this office was already so great that Pepin's son, 
Grimoald, who inherited it, endeavored to set his son, Childe- 
bert, on the throne of the Franks. But the ancient rever- 
ence of the Frank nobility for their royal house was still too 
strong; and both father and son lost their lives in the enter- 
prise (a.d. 656). The only heirs to the great estates of Pe- 
pin's family were the two sisters of Grimoald, Gertrude and 
Begga, Begga was the wife of Anchises, son of Arnulf, 
bishop of Metz — one of the marriages by which great Frank 
families sometimes allied themselves with those of the sub- 
ject race, whose ecclesiastical dignities had ennobled them. 
Thus Latin and German blood were mingled in the descend- 
ants of Pepin. Of this marriage was born Pepin of Heristal, 
who inherited the whole of the family estates, and obtained 
the ancestral office of mayor of the palace in Austrasia. He 
ventured to make war upon the King of Neustria and his 
mayor of the palace, defeated them (a.d. 681) at Testri, near 
St. Quentin, and obtained the office of his mayor also ; so 
that he now held the same dignity and power in all the great 
divisions of the kingdom. The distribution of all the fiefs 
which Avere forfeited to the king fell into his hands, and he 
was able to proclaim himself Duke and Prince (Dux et Prin- 
ceps) of the Franks. But, warned by the fate of his grand- 
father, he contented himself with wielding the power of the 
kingly office without seeking its name and honor. He left 
his son Charles Martel his heir ; and this prince had to en- 
dure hard struggles in his own family, as well as among the 
Franks and against the heathen Frisians, before his position 
was fully achieved. But he showed himself worthy of it. 
The dukes of the countries dependent on the crown of the 



70 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book 1. 

Franks, those of Aquitaiiia,AlIemannia, Bavaria, and Thuvin- 
gia, were unwilling to obey the mayor as they had once 
obeyed the king. It seemed that the fall of the Merovin- 
gians must bring with it the breaking up of the kingdom of 
the Franks into tribes and districts. But Charles upheld 
liis own dignity ; and his house was soon more regarded by 
the Franks than that of the Merovingians had ever been. 

§ 15. The Arabs took advantage of a revolt in Aquitania 
to invade the country of the Franks. Inspired by their new 
religion, they had fled from their desert peninsula, and spread 
over Egypt and North Africa. Thence they attacked and 
destroyed the kingdom of the Visigoths, or West Goths, in 
711, and subdued almost all Spain. They now, under the 
Emir Abderraraan, moved against the kingdom of the Franks. 
Here were two peoples in conflict, both in their youthful 
vigor; two religions, each in the course of its development. 
The contest was to decide whether the Mohammedan civili- 
zation of the Arabs was stronger than the Christian civiliza- 
tion of the Germans. Charles Martel summoned his feudal 
vassals', but above all the Austrasians, who were of pure Ger- 
man blood. A great battle was fought at Poitiers in 732, 
scarcely inferior in horror or in the importance of its results 
to the renowned defeat of the Huns in the Catalaunian fields. 
For six days the ground was contested ; at length, on the 
seventh day, Charles, thenceforth called Martel, or the Ham- 
mer, secured the victory, saving Western Christianity and 
German independence. He afterward wrested from the Sar- 
acens the territory upon the Lower Rhone, which, with the 
aid of rebellious Burgundian nobles, they had long occupied, 
defeating them a second time at Narbonne, and capturing 
Avignon (a.d. 738). 

Charles Martel exercised the kingly office with such vigor 
that he reduced within still narrower limits than before the 
remnants of freedom which the people had retained. Before 
his time, it was still their custom, as it had been that of their 
remote German ancestors, to come together in the spring of 
every year, in the so-called " Marchfield " (Marz-feld, because 
the meetings were held in the month of March), to determine 
questions of war and peace, and to administer justice, under 
the presidency of their princes. Clovis introduced the cus- 



Chap. III. END OF THE MEROVINGIAN DYNASTY, 71 

torn of summoning to these assemblies, with the freemen, 
his own feudal vassals. They were of especial value to the 
king, because they carried on his personal wars, even if not 
sustained by a resolution of the people ; and they soon came 
to be preferred before the freemen. But now Charles Martel 
compelled the freemen, too, to muster on the field of assem- 
bly, and to join his army, without asking them to deliberate 
or to resolve. His son Pepin afterward postponed the regu- 
lar time of assembling till May. All the nobles then came to- 
gether, as vassals either of temporal or of spiritual lords, thus 
forming a sort of "Reichstag," or Imperial Diet, with which 
the king used to consult. Thus the constitution of the feud- 
al state \n\t an end to the general freedom of the people. 

§ 16. Charles Martel died in 741, leaving his sovereignty 
in common to his two sons, Carloman and Pepin the Short. 
The mayors of the palace still kept up the shadow of the 
Merovingian house, with the title of king. It was nothing- 
more, for the king had no revenue but a fixed allowance paid 
him by the mayor; and no duties, but to perform certain 
ceremonies at public gatherings and festivals, reciting what 
the mayor put in his mouth. But this farce of royalty was 
now near its end. The descendants of Pepin of Heristal 
were rude and hardened men, who hesitated at nothing to 
gain their ends. They were continually at war; now with 
their own kindred, and again turning aside to subdue the 
dukes of Aquitania, Allemannia, and Bavaria, who resist- 
ed them as they had their father. Sudden conversions and 
monkish notions of penance were common in those times; 
and Carloman, in 747, retired from his conflicts and his power 
to the convent of Monte Casino, leaving his younger brother, 
Pepin the Short, the undisputed ruler of all the Franks. He 
soon won the pope's friendship. The popes of Rome, evei' 
since the Lombard conquest of Italy, had held that city and 
its suburbs as part of the Exarchate, in nominal dependence 
upon the Eastern Empire ; but w^ere often hard pressed by 
their neighbors, and could get no protection from Constanti- 
nople. The Lombards had much less reverence for the suc- 
cessors of St. Peter than the more remote Franks. At this 
time Pope Zacharias was in imminent danger of losing his 
possessions, the Lombard king, Astolph, threatening to in- 



72 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

corporate Rome with his kingdom. Zacharias tried to win 
the friendship and aid of Pepin, with the Franks, against the 
Lombards. Pepin sent to inquire of him, "Who ought right- 
ly to be king : he Avho sits at home in idleness, or he who 
bears the toils and dangers of the government?" The pope 
answered the question in favor of Pepin, and sanctioned by 
the countenance of the Church the deposition of the last Me- 
rovingian king, taking care, at the same time, to seize the 
opportunity to aggrandize the Holy See. For he decided 
the case in such a form as to imply that the throne was the 
gift of the pope, and added a threat of the ban of the Church 
upon any Frank who would not accept Pepin as king. This 
was the beginning of the assumption that the popes might 
dispose of kingdoms, and interfere with their political des- 
tinies by the spiritual weapons of excommunication and in- 
terdict. The Frank nobles seem now to have been more 
willing than before to see their king removed. Pepin there- 
fore assumed the crown in 752; the principal bishops of the 
kingdom, by authority of the pope, anointing him, and the 
Franks with enthusiasm elevating him upon the shield. The 
last of the Merovingians, Childeric III., suffered the loss of 
his royal locks of hair, and was secluded in a convent. 

§ 17. Thus Pepin, with the pope's help, founded a new dy- 
nasty. He soon had an opportunity to show his gratitude. 
Stephen H., the successor of Zacharias, engaged in another 
war with the Lombards, visited Pepin at St. Denis, and com- 
pleted his consecration as king, anointing both him and his 
sons Charles and Carloman with his own hand. Pepin 
then escorted him back to Rome, at the head of a victori- 
ous ai-my (754 and 755), and in two successful campaigns 
wrested the Exarchate from the Lombards. The Emperor 
of the East demanded its restoration to the empire ; but 
Pepin collected the keys of the cities, and sent them to the 
altar of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome. This famous "do- 
nation of Pepin " became " the patrimony of St. Peter," the 
foundation of the temporal power of the papacy. The pope 
conferred on the king the title of Patrician of Rome, and 
promised him a sort of protectorate over Rome and the 
Church, Thus the mayor of the palace was indebted to the 
pope for the throne which his son built up still higher, until 



Chap. III. DECLINE OF MORALS. 73 

it overshadowed Europe; and the pope was indebted to the 
new-made king for that temporal sovereignty which has ever 
since been tlie chief care of his successors and the curse of 
the Church. We can hardly accuse Gibbon of'cxaggeration, 
therefore, when he says: "The mutual obligations of the 
popes and the Carlovingian family form the important link 
of ancient and modern, of civil and ecclesiastical, history." 
This remark is further illustrated by the career of Pepin's 
son, Charlemagne. Pepin maintained his authority over the 
Franks with vigor until his death in '768. 

§ 18. The character of the Germans had changed for the 
worse during their migrations and conquests. The evil in- 
fluences of their unsettled life, their constant wars, and their 
introduction to the vices and, luxuries of degenerate Rome, 
wrought so rapidly and deeply upon them, that they were 
threatened with premature decay and ruin. Nothing could 
save them for the great career which lay before them but 
some power which should elevate and reinvigorate the indi- 
vidual mind. This power came in the Christian religion, 
which was gradually taking ever deeper root among the 
Germans. It is true tljat nearly all the German tribes had 
professed Christianity at the time of the great migrations; 
but their new faith had as yet had little effect upon their 
moral nature, least of all on that of the Franks, as this sketch 
of their history has fully shown. The work of reforming 
them went on very slowly for a long time ; and only made 
progress as Cliristianity assumed the definite and organized 
form of the Roman Catholic Church, This influence also 
was exerted more powerfully in Germany proper, where the 
population was most free from the admixture of foreigners, 
than in any other country, and it was mainly through other 
German tribes that Christian ideas and practices were im- 
pressed upon the Franks. 

Interior Germany — that is, the country of the Allemanni, 
Bavarians, Thuringians, Saxons, and Frisians — was but little 
disturbed by the wanderings of the tribes which sought 
for homes within the Roman Empire. Thus Christianity 
did not reach them until nearly the sixth century. It was 
from Ireland (then for its Christian zeal called the Island of 
Saints) that missionaries went forth to preach to them the 

> V • ^ 



74 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

new faith. The Irish had embraced Christianity in the fourth 
century. They liad little or no connection with Rome and 
the pope, and their religion had not assumed the form which 
the Catholic -Church afterward gave it. Nothing but the 
love of Christ di'ove these missionaries to .their work; but 
they lacked one thing which was essential — unity of direc- 
tion. St. Columban was the most active of them. He first 
of all founded the convent of Luxeuil, in the Vosges Mount- 
ains, among the Allemanni, and thence spread the Christian 
doctrine in every direction, laboring to subdue the wild land 
to fruitfulness, while he planted the truth of Christ in the 
wild hearts of the people. The vile queen, Brunehilde (Brune- 
haut), drove him away ; and he betook himself to Lake Con- 
stance. All the country here, far and wide, was a forest, 
and almost a desert since the marches of the great migrations. 
Here he preached the Gospel to the ruined inhabitants, while 
his companions shattered their idols. He then crossed the 
Alps ; but a disciple of his, St. Gallus, who was left behind 
sick on the journey, founded in the wilderness, on the Stein- 
ach, the monastery of St. Gall. Columban died among the 
Lombards, in the convent of BobbOj on the Apennines. Li 
the same pious and humble manner, a similar work was done 
by St. Fridolin at the monastery of Seckungen, on the Rhine ; 
by St. Parmin, founder of the convent of Reichenau, on Lake 
Constance; by St. Kilian at Wtirzburg; and by St. Emme- 
rara, a Frank, in Bavaria. The last two became martyrs to 
their faith. 

§ 19. But these Irish missions struck root only at a few 
scattered points. The missionary work became more thor- 
ough and extensive in the hands of the Anglo-Saxons. When 
they conquered Great Britain, which was already Christian, 
they restored their ancient German heathenism, and main- 
tained it for a century and a half Pope Gregory the Great 
(590-604), who was moved to pity by the beauty and in- 
nocence of some Anglo-Saxon youths brought as prisoners 
to Rome, exerted himself for the conversion of the nation. 
Ethelbert, their chief king, married a Catholic, the daugh- 
ter of a Merovingian king of the Franks. To him Gregory 
sent a numerous embassy, who were well received ; and grad- 
ually all the kingdoms on the island accepted the Christian 



Chap. III. THE ANGLO-SAXON MISSIONS. 75 

religion. The Anglo-Saxons now became inspired by a mis- 
sionary zeal, such as no German tribe had ever felt ; and nat- 
urally their efforts were directed at once to their still uncon- 
verted kindred anion* the Germans. Many men of noble 
birth, and even of royal blood, devoted themselves to this 
pious calling. They first turned to the Frisians, who dwelt 
on the coasts opposite to them, and who spoke a language so 
much like their own that no interpreter was needed between 
them. 

§ 20. The Frisians were a free tribe, governing themselves 
in little communities, like the more ancient Germans. They 
were led by nobles or princes, sometimes mistakenly called 
kings. Their country ran from the Zuyder Zee along nearly 
the whole coast of the North Sea, and into Northern Schles- 
wig ; it was only between the Weser and the Eider that the 
Saxon borders reached the sea. Over against this coast 
there was a circle of islands, most of them then of large size, 
though now worn away to mere remnants by the stoi-nis of 
the aggressive sea. They extended from the Texel to the 
island of Sylt in the north. The Frisians occupied these isl- 
ands ; and the best part of what they held on the mainland 
had been wrested from the ocean, and was only retained by 
a continual struggle against the waters. Dikes, in what 
they called a golden hoop (geldene hop), protected the land 
against the regular reflux of the tide. Behind these the free 
Frisian, whose wealth was inhis cattle, lived in his marshes. 
He traversed the dangerous North Sea, too, in his small ves- 
sel ; nor to this day can bolder or better seamen be found than 
his descendants. The Frisians were restless neighbors to 
the Franks, who, from the time of Pepin of Heristal, had 
striven to conquer them. Charles Martel fought against 
them his first battles, and they laid siege to him in Cologne. 
But their border districts had now been subjugated. The 
Franks were, of course, desirous to see this unruly people 
brought by Christianity into a more orderly state ; and 
Charles Martel, and still more zealously Pepin the Short, 
did all they could to help the Anglo-Saxon missionaries. 
Yet their interference made Christianity seem to the Fri- 
sians, as it did afterward to the Saxons, to be one with 
subjugation and slavery. Radbod, one of their greatest no- 



76 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

blemen, was its fiercest opponent. Of the missionaries, Wil- 
librord was the most influential ; though many others, such 
as Suidbert on the Lower Rhine, and Wilfred and Wigbert 
on the coast, had preceded him. Wiilibrord was very suc- 
cessful in his work, and Charles Martel founded for him the 
episcopal see of Utrecht, as a point of support for the Fri- 
sian missions. 

§ 21. Among the companions of Willibrord wasWinfred, a 
youth of noble family, born at Kirton,in Devonshire, England, 
in 680, who, while very young, became zealous for a convent 
life and for missionary work. When Radbod stirred up a 
fierce persecution of the Christians, Winfred came at once to 
Friesland, and labored for two yeai'S with hardly any result. 
He perceived the necessity, in order to succeed, of finding 
another field for work, and, above all, of forming closer rela- 
tions with the pope, whom the Anglo-Saxons already recog- 
nized as the head of the whole Church. He went to Rome, 
and the pope designated him for missionary work among the 
tribes of Central Germany. He proceeded first to Bavaria, 
where he found some pitiful remnants of the Christianity 
which had been placed there under the Roman Empire, as 
well as the insignificant beginnings of the Frank missions. 
He then chose as his centre of operations Wiirzburg, where 
St. Kilian had met with a martyr's death. 

§ 22. On his second tour, he visited Treves, in the Rhine 
province of the Franks, where heathenism still lingered, and 
taught among the Hessians. Here he founded the monastery 
of Amoneberg, as a centre of support for further mission 
work. At Fritzlar, near the Saxon frontier, stood a sacred 
oak, consecrated to Donar, the god of thunder. Winfred cut 
it down with his own hands, in the presence of the terrified 
people, who were now converted in multitudes. The pope 
recalled him to Rome, made him a bishop, and gave him the 
name of Boniface (a.d. 723). He in turn took an oath to ex- 
tend the supremacy of Rome over all whom he should con- 
vert. At once he entered Germany as an ecclesiastical prince, 
in humility yet in power; a throng of missionaries, raosth" 
Anglo-Saxons, labored under his direction. Charles Martel 
and Pepin the Short did their best to help him. Thus all 
Hesse and Thuringia were bi'ought to Christianity, and Ba- 



Chap. III. THE APOSTLE OF THE GERMANS. 77 

varia was strengthened and instructed in the faith. Boni- 
face introduced into Germany the Roman system of Church 
government; he founded episcopal sees, the centres of large 
dioceses, into which the country was divided ; and from the 
year 732 he was over them all as the sole archbishop of Ger- 
many. In Bavaria he established four sees : Salzburg, Freis- 
ingen, Regensburg (Ratisbon), and Passau ; and two in the 
kingdom of the Franks, Wtirzburg and Aichstiidt. He also 
appointed Biiraburg, in Hesse, and Erfurt, in Thuringia, to be 
episcopal sees ; but these were not established, the monas- 
teries of Fulda and Hersfeld serving in their stead, under the 
Archdiocese of Mayence. 

§ 23. At each episcopal see were built a church and palace 
for the bishop. The churches were at first modest structures 
of wood ; but it gradually came to be the custom to build 
very large and handsome buildings for cathedrals. The bish- 
op's palace was a centre around which artisans and laborers 
of all grades settled ; free landowners and vassals of the 
Church also came, and thus in most cases a city grew up. 
Boniface may be fairly regarded, not merely as a teacher of 
Christianity in Germany, but as the missionary of a higher 
civilization, and the founder of cities. He and his disciples 
founded and endowed many monasteries, most of them upon 
rich lands newly cleared for cultivation. These monaster- 
ies became centres of civilization, exerting a wide influence. 
They relieved the poor, and afforded shelter to pilgrims and 
travelers, a refuge to fugitives and suppliants, and, more than 
all, a quiet home for learning, in which the Benedictine monks, 
then the only order in existence, could vary their labors on 
the soil, by copying, and thus preserving books. Boniface 
himself became archbishop of Mayence in 745, and actually 
ruled the entire Church of Germany. He was subordinate to 
the pope, but not slavishly so, for he censured and rebuked 
him freely, when it seemed necessar3^ He had kings among 
his friends, and to them, too, he spoke the language of a spir- 
itual father. Thus, in his more than princely position, Boni- 
face was a real benefactor of Germany, and has often been 
called the Apostle of the Germans. The order, majesty, and 
magnificence of the Roman Church now gained as great an 
ascendency over the German people as the Roman Einpii'e 



78 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

had acquired long before. Boniface was the exponent of that 
Church in its order and its power; and was delegated, in 
the name of the pope, to anoint and to crown Pepin king of 
the Franks in 752. The Saxons were the only tribe which 
now continued to reject and exclude Christianity. They 
murdered the two Ewalds and other missionaries who were 
sent to them. 

§ 24. Part of the Frisians were still heathen. Boniface, 
now seventy-four years of age, was neither too dignified noi' 
too old, he thought, to resume the labors of his youth. His 
favorite disciple, Lullus, often found him praying earnestly, 
with tears, for a martyr's death. He now went to the bish- 
opric of Utrecht, which had been added to his dignities after 
Willebrord's death, and moved down the Rhine, in full ex- 
pectation of his speedy end, and with his shroud ready. He 
preached to the Frisians with success. But while his tent 
was pitched at Doccum on the Borne, a fierce horde of heathen 
Frisians rushed from the woods. They were at first supposed 
to be new converts, coming to ask for baptism. When their 
hostile purpose was seen, Boniface forbade his attendants to 
make any defense, and fell under the axes of the assassins, 
holding up the Gospels over his head with his expiring strength 
(755). His body was rescued and brought to Mayence, and 
afterward to Fulda. No man before Charlemagne had a 
greater influence upon the destinies of Germany than Boni- 
face. 

§ 25. But the Christianity of the Germans, and even that 
of the Roman provinces, for many generations after the date 
of their "conversion," was a very different kind of* religion 
from that which is now held by enlightened Christians. Con- 
stantine Jind several of his successors were actually worshiped 
after death by multitudes of the Christians of those days. 
The apostolic doctrines were not conceived as a system of 
belief by the people, nor even by their teachers ; the personal 
sovereignty of Christ as a king and warrioi", and the future 
heaven or hell to be awarded by him, were apprehended as 
practical truths, but were overlaid with a dense mass of su- 
perstitious notions and observances, many of them legacies 
from heathenism. Above all, the Germans indulged Avithout 
stint their passion for the wonderful ; and the power of Chris- 



Chap. III. ANCIENT GERMAN CHRISTIANITY. 79 

tianity over them deiDcnded largely on the supply of miracles 
and of potent relics which it could furnish them. The work- 
ers of miraculous cures were numerous ; they were esteemed 
as the favorites of heaven, and cities and princes contended 
with one another for their bones. Some of the popes were 
wise enough to discourage the zeal for miracles; and as late as 
A.D. 590, Pope Gregory I. wrote to St. Augustine, of England, 
cautioning him against spiritual pride as a worker of them. 
But it was not long before the papacy became the great cen- 
tre from which relics of the saints were distributed through- 
out the Church. The Roman catacombs were ransacked, and 
bones of saints found in an abundance sufficient to supply 
Christendom for ages. The pope's guaranty of genuineness 
was final ; and this resource contributed immeasurably to in- 
crease the wealth and power of the Holy See. The legends 
of the saints, as circulated and preserved, mainly by tradition, 
were for centuries the intellectual food of the Church at large ; 
and were filled with idle and monotonous tales of wonderful 
cures in mind and body, wrought by the holy men and wom- 
en in their lives, or by their corpses or their tombs. No doubt 
was entertained, even by the most intelligent, of the truth 
of these miracles. The modern conception of nature, as the 
work of a divine will which is unchangeable, and which there- 
fore expresses itself in fixed, uniform laws, was then unknown. 
The spiritual conception of Christianity, as life by a j)ersonal 
trust in a pure, holy, and loving God, was set forth, indeed, 
by a few Avriters and preachers, and was doubtless verified in 
the experience of many a humble heart ; but it was far above 
the thoughts of the people, or even of the clergy at large. 
To them no religion was of any value Avhich was not magical 
in its methods and powers, and a charm to secure good for- 
tune or to avert danger. In short, the Church was one thing, 
Christianity another ; and the priestly ambition of the gi-eat 
organization to rule over men's lives and estates entirely 
eclipsed and obscured the spiritual work of the kingdom which 
is not of this world. Nothing in the early German character 
is more attractive than the habitual and general chastity of 
the people, and their reverence for the marriage tie. But the 
great migrations corrupted them; and the degradation of 
marriage in the succeeding centuries was promoted and com- 



80 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

pleted by the influence of the Church. Hardly any agency 
can be traced in history which has wrought greater social and 
moral evil than the contempt for human love and for the 
marriage tie, which was sedulously cultivated by the Roman 
Church from the beginning, and especially after the middle 
of the fourth century. Yet, while the true picture of social 
morals at this time among public men, in Church and State, 
is one which can not be unveiled with decency, there are in- 
dications enough to satisfy us that the doctrines of the New 
Testament had not lost their power ; and that truth, purity, 
divine charity, and Christian heroism were kept alive in many 
hearts. Thousands of men and women, whose minds and 
lives were darkened by the teachings and practices of ascet- 
icism and monasticism, and by the gross superstitions fostered 
by the clergy, still cherished a devout, selt-sacrilicing love for 
their unseen Master and Lord, and stood ready at all times 
to die for him. Even the idea of Christian brotherhood was 
not utterly lost; and the common worship of the same Re- 
deemer by master and slave did much to mitigate the horrors 
which grew out of their relation. Thus a law of the Visi- 
goths, dating from the fourth century, declares that every 
man is made in the image of God ; and therefore forbids a 
master to kill a slave, or to mutilate his body by cutting off 
hand, foot, or nose, or putting out an eye, without the ap- 
proval of a judicial tribunal, on penalty of a pound of gold 
or three years' banishment and infamy. But none of the 
other German tribes seem to have made such progress in hu- 
manity until much later. 




Charlemagne (763-814). 



CHAPTER IV. 



CHARLEMAGNE, A.D, 768-814. 

] . The Sons of Pepin the Short. § 2. Charles sole King ; his first Cam- 
paigns in Saxony and Italy. § 3. Obstinate Kesistance of the Saxons. 
§ 4. They are Subjugated. § 5. The Church in Saxony ; " the Heliand." 
§ 6. The Frisians. § 7. Charles in Spain. . Roncesvalles. § 8. The Ba- 
varian Dukes deposed. Defeat of the Avari. § 9. Successes against the 
Sclavonic Tribes. § 10. The Pope of Eome and the Church. § 11. 
Charlemagne, Emperor of the Romans. § 12. Significance of the Title. 

G 



82 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

§ 13. Relations of the Empire and the Church. § H. Civil Order undei' 
Charlemagne. § 15. Military Organization. Revenues of the Crown. 
§ 16. Personal Power of Charlemagne. § 17. His Intelligence and Men- 
tal Activity. § 18. His Character and Fame. 

§ I. The kingdom of Pepin the Sliort was more extensive 
than that of his Merovingian predecessors ; and its moral 
strength, in the sanction of the Church and the reverence of 
the people, was greater than that of Clovis. The vigor of 
liis arms and policy showed no abatement to the last. Ba- 
varia, Thnringia, and Frisia were incorporated with his pos- 
sessions ; his sovereignty was undisputed ; the power of the 
princes who at first threatened to be his rivals was broken 
down; and the crown was acknowledged to be hereditary 
in his family. Aquitaine, Brittany (Armorica), and Bavaria 
still retained their native dukes; but all the other provinces 
were governed by counts, who were ofiicers of the crown, 
and not hereditary rulers. In the year 768, Pepin felt that 
death was near, and summoned a Diet of the kingdom; from 
which he had but time to obtain the ratification of his will, 
disposing of the kingdom, when he died, September 24. This 
will divided the country between his sons Charles and Carlo- 
man, the latter to reign in the southern, the former in the 
northern provinces. The two brothers united in carrying out 
Pepin's plans against Aquitaine, and humbled and deposed 
the duke in 769. But Carloman gave Charles but a feeble 
support in this work, and dissensions arose between them, 
which would have led to civil war but for the mediation of 
their mother, Bertha. The reconciliation was imperfect, how- 
ever; and the stronger nature of Charles entirely overshad- 
owed his brother during the short time of their joint reign. 
In very early life Charles married a princess of the Franks ; 
but soon after Pepin's death, at Bertlia's instance, he put her 
away, and married Desiderata, daughter of Desiderius (Di- 
dier), king of the Lombai'ds. Carloman married another 
daughter of the same king. Pope Stephen III. protested 
against this act, and in 771 Charles divorced his second wife 
also. In the same year Carloman died, leaving his infant 
sons under the guardianship of their grandmother. Bertha, 

§ 2. Charles at once resolved to be sole king, and endeavored 
to obtain possession of his nephews. But their mother fled 



Chap. IV. CHARLES IN ITALY. 83 

with them to Italy, and claimed the protection of her father 
Desiderius, king of the Lombards, who recognized the little 
princes as kings of the Franks. Charles led a crusade into 
Saxony in VV2, laid waste the country, and desolated the great 
heathen sanctuary of the people, the Irmensiiule, at Stadtber- 
gen, on the Diemel, a monument supposed to stand where Ar- 
minius had destroyed the legions of Varus. He even advanced 
to the river Weser, the Saxons every where submitting, and 
vowing allegiance to him. But the attitude of the Lombards 
now demanded his attention. King Desiderius was embit- 
tered against Charles, both by the divorce of Desiderata, and 
by the exclusion of his grandchildren from the succession. 
He had also been for a long time engaged in controversies 
and disputes with the Papal See. Pope Stephen IIL now 
died, and was succeeded by Adrian L Desiderius demanded 
of the new pope that he should anoint the infant sons of 
Carloman kings of the Franks. But Adrian, too, was well 
inclined to Charles, and anxious to obtain his support against 
the Lombards, and he refused to obey. Desiderius under- 
took to compel the pope to his will ; but Adrian appealed for 
aid to Charles, who at once collected a vast army at Geneva, 
and marched into Italy by the pass of the Great St, Bernard. 
Desiderius fled before him, and took refuge in his capital, 
Pavia, which was strongly fortified. Charles, joined by a 
multitude of Italians who were well inclined to the Franks 
and to the pope, took possession of all Northern Italy. He 
then advanced to Rome, where the pope welcomed him as a 
deliverer, and songs of praise resounded, " Blessed be he that 
coraeth in the name of the Lord !" A personal friendship 
was formed between the emperor and the pope, which was 
uninterVupted, amid all political changes, until the death of 
Adrian, more than twenty years afterward. The Easter fes- 
tival was celebrated in the Cathedral of St. Peter (a.d. 774) 
with great devotion and splendor. In the spring Charles re- 
duced Pavia, compelled Desiderius and his nephews to enter 
a convent, and annexed the Lombards to the realm of the 
Franks ; but without depriving them of their own laws or 
even of their native dukes. He assumed the title of King 
of Italy, and his possessions extended to the river Garigliano. 
South of this, from sea to sea, a remnant of the Lombards, 



84 HISTOEY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

under Arichis, retained a sort of independence, under the 
name of the Duchy of Benevento. When the embassadors 
of Charles arrived, the Lombard nobles were standing at the 
threshold of their citadel to receive them, in all pride and cir- 
cumstance, with falcons on their wrists, their duke rising from 
a golden throne before the embassy, with reverence, but not 
with fear, and offering homage and a tribute, which Charles 
accepted. Venice, too, remained independent. Adelgis, the 
son of Desiderius, refused to submit, preferring to sink into 
poverty. According to tradition, he was a strong youth, 
who used to strike down his foes in battle with a staff of 
iron ; and once he entered in disguise the palace which had 
been his father's in Pavia, and sat down with Charles at din- 
ner, breaking up the bones of stags, oxen, and bears like hop- 
poles, and drinking out the marrow as lions do. But when 
Charles learned who his guest had been, he was gone.* 

Soon afterward insurrections broke out in favor of Adelgis, 
and Charles returned to Italy in 776, and again in 787, to 
put them down. In the latter year the native dukes were de- 
posed, and the Lombards were afterward governed like all 
the Franks, by counts appointed by the king. The feudal sys- 
tem was gradually extended over them, adding vastly to the 
possessions and influence of the clergy. The policy of Charles 
was now clearly formed and defined ; and his great genius 
had begun the work, to which it was afterward steadily de- 
voted, of building up together the absolute monarchy of the 
Franks and the spiritual ascendency of Rome. 

§ 3. The principal German tribes were now subjects of the 

* "Then said a knight, 'Master, if you would give me the ring on your 
arm, I pledge myself to bring him back alive or dead,' and then pursued 
Adelgis, who had gone down the Ticino in a boat. He overtook him, and 
motioned him to the shore, holding up the bracelet, and crying that Charles 
had sent him a pledge of hospitality. Adelgis came up without suspicion, 
but was surprised when the knight offered him the gift upon the point of his 
spear. He threw on his breastplate, and presented his own spear, saying, 
' If thou offerest me gifts upon the spear's point, on the spear's point will I 
also receive them.' Thus he took the bracelet, but, being too proud to accept 
a favor from Charles, he gave his own bracelet in exchange. And it was 
this, not Adelgis, that the knight brought home. But when Charles tried it 
on, it passed over his arm, all the way up to his shoulder, and the king said, 
'No wonder this man has such prodigious strength.' " — Grimm's Sagen and 
the Chronicon of Novalese. 



Chap. IV. CAMPAIGNS IN SAXONY. 85 

Franks, with the single exception of the Saxons. Clothaire 
I. had claimed and exacted tribute from these heathen war- 
riors ; but after his death they asserted their independence, 
and neither Charles Martel nor Pepin the Short ever carried 
out the traditional plan of the Frank kings to subdue them. 
Charles now made it one of the great aims of his life to in- 
corporate this wild people into his kingdom, and into the 
Christian Church. The Saxons formed three tribes, the 
Westphalians, the Angrarians (Engern),and the Eastphalians, 
They were led in sacrifice and counsel, in judgment and in 
war, by their noblemen ; but in other respects they were 
freemen, retaining the old German organization in marches 
and districts, while a general assembly of the nation came 
together once every year at Marklo, on the Weser. They 
had obtained their territory by conquest, and the descend- 
ants of the subjugated people formed a very numerous class 
among them ; partly Lateyi, or serfs, partly slaves, without 
any personal rights. The Saxon character was that of a 
wild, obstinate freedom, and their enemies called them cruel 
and treacherous. On the borders they plundered the prop- 
erty of the Franks, their neighbors, and constantly brought 
war and confusion upon them, making it a national necessity, 
in Charles's view, to subdue this people and to convert them 
to Christianity. But his expedition of 772 produced no last- 
ing results. During his campaign against the Lombards in 
succeeding years, the Saxons rebelled in a body. Witikind, 
their duke, a man of illustrious descent and of immense es- 
tates, exercised a great influence over the people, and used 
it to the utmost to stir them to revolt. Legends of his 
bravery and cunning are still preserved in Westphalia. Aft- 
er two more campaigns, Charles succeeded in obtaining the 
homage of all the Saxon nobles, and their consent not to op- 
pose the Christian religion. But Witikind did not take the 
oath of allegiance, but sought refuge among the kindred race 
of Danes, who were also heathens still. War and revolt 
were continually renewed. 

§ 4. In 782 Charles sent a strong army of Franks, under 
two generals, through Saxony, to subdue the Sorbs, who 
dwelt east of the Saal, summoning the Saxons in a body to 
his aid. But the Saxons, though they had just renewed their 



86 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

VOW of allegiance, rose against the army of the Franks, and 
destroyed it with its generals at the Siintel. Charles has- 
tened thither, and, expecting to terrify the rebellious peo- 
ple by a great slaughter, beheaded four thousand five hun- 
dred Saxons at Verden on the Aller. But this bloody act 
only stimulated the Saxons to greater efibrts. As in old 
times Arminius had stirred up his people against the Romans, 
so now Witikind flew from place to place, calling the Saxons 
to arms. It was the first time Charles had a really hard 
and dangerous struggle. He finally won a victory at Det- 
mold, and again at the river Hase (783) ; and now, at length, 
Witikind himself proffered homage and subjection.' Charles 
accepted the offer, and the Saxon leader was baptized at At- 
tigny, in Northern France. Legend afiirms that he stole in 
disguise into the winter-quarters of the Franks in Saxony, 
which Charles established there for the first time in 785, and 
was so impressed with the majesty of the king, and the splen- 
dor of the Christian worship, that he bowed his haughty 
spirit before them. Thus the very heart was taken out of 
Saxon resistance. But it continued to spring up again, in 
the form of occasional revolts. Thus the people, feeling op- 
pressed by the general levy of troops and the exaction of 
tithes for the Church, seized the opportunity, during the w^ar 
with the Avari, to rebel again ; and the king then removed 
ten thousand Saxons, with their families, into Frankish ter- 
ritory, replacing them in their own land with colonies of 
Franks. From this time forth, occasional marches, at the 
head of his army, through the Saxon teriitory, sufficed to 
keep the people in peaceful subjection. In the year 797, by 
a special capitulary, or i-ojal statute, promulgated at Aix, 
the popular assembly of the Saxons was dissolved, the whole 
arms-bearing population was made liable to be drafted into 
the Frankish army, and the land of the Saxons was subject- 
ed to the constitution of the kingdom of the Franks. The 
last transportation of people was effected in 804. The Sax- 
ons of North Albingen, dwelling in what is now Holstein, 
also submitted, and in 811 the Eider was fixed as the bound- 
ary of the kingdom of the Franks. 

§ 5. The fact that Christianity was imposed upon the Sax- 
ons by foreign conquerors with cruel severity, led them to 



Chap. IV. SAXON CHRISTIANITY. 87 

hate it like slavery. The freeman was embittered by the ne- 
cessity of paying tithes, as a tribute, to the Church. Charles 
found it necessary to make special efforts for the establish- 
ment of the new faith ; and for this purpose he followed the 
plan of Boniface, and founded bishoprics. The following 
sees were established by him or his son in the Saxon terii- 
tory: in Westphalia, Paderborn, Munster, and Osnabrtick ; 
near the Weser, Bremen (in 798), Minden, and Verden ; and 
farther eastward, Hildesheim and Halberstadt. Around 
these sees, in the course of time, flourishing cities grew n}). 
But the Saxons, who at first resisted the Christian faith 
with such obstinacy, soon became devoted to it. Scarcely a 
generation had passed after their subjection, when "the He- 
liand" was produced among them, that deep and glorious 
song in honor of the Saviour, which introduced into their 
language — the old Low-German, or old Saxon — the story of 
the Gospels in a poetical form. This memorable monument 
of a long-silent tongue is precious not only as a philological 
study, but as a beautiful expression of the faith of that age. 
It is a transcript, indeed, from the Gospels, but is imbued 
with a deep spirit of utter faithfulness to Christ; and, wdth 
its amplifications, and the warmth and earnestness of its tone, 
presents a picture of Him as a rich, mighty, and kind king 
of the German people, whose followers are faithful unto 
death. It has no metrical character but that of alliteration, 
in the simple old heathen style, like the Visions and Creed 
of Piers Plowman, in early English. These Saxons became 
one of the most powerful nations in the empire. In inde- 
pendence, Charles himself compared them with the Franks. 
They showed an obstinate attachment to the manners and 
customs of their forefathers, and, in particular, the feudal 
system of the Franks found no acceptance with them. 

§ 6. The Western Frisians had been defeated by Charles 
Martel and Pepin. The Eastern Frisians, who had kept 
their freedom till the fall of the Saxons, were now also sub- 
dued by Charles. But these people retained their own laws, 
and Charles gave them a pledge that they should not be 
compelled to reinforce his army. As their law expresses it : 
" It is right that the free Frisian should not go upon any 
military service farther than the flow and ebb of the tide; 



88 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

because he must every day defend the shore against the salt 
sea and the wild pirates, with five weapons — his spade, fork, 
shield, sword, and the point of his spear." Thus they re- 
mained as a whole independent, and isolated from the rest 
of the kingdom. 

§ 1. While these were his most momentous achievements, 
King Charles had meanwhile been engaged in several other 
noteworthy deeds and expeditions. When he was in Pader- 
born, a Saxon town, in 777, a Saracen prince from Saragossa, 
in Spain, came to him, begging for aid against his caliph, Ab- 
derraman, who threatened to depose him. In Spain the su- 
premacy of the Ai'abs, who had overthrown the Visigoths, 
was already weakened by internal dissensions, and by revolts 
of the great officers of state. Charles seized this opportunity 
to cross the Pyrenees. He captured Pampeluna and Sara- 
gossa in 778, subjugated the country as far as the Ebro, and 
formed it into a Spanish county, or viceroyalty. Here the 
two races lived side by side. The Franks learned from the 
Saracens more delicacy of manners and of thought, and 
taught them love of freedom and reverence for woman. Thus 
arose that fresh, poetic view of life and duty which after- 
ward became widely spread under the name of chivalry. But 
in spite of his victories, the king met with misfortune on his 
return. In the Pyrenees, in the valley of Roncesvalles, the 
Basque mountaineers fell upon his rear-guard, which was 
loaded with booty, and slew many of his bravest noblemen ; 
among them Roland, count of the march of Brittany. The 
most ancient records give no further information, but this 
Roland afterward became a favorite subject of legend and 
song. The treason of the wicked Ganelon, who betrayed 
him, and his own heroic death in battle with the unbelievers, 
were favorite themes of minstrelsy and of popular tales for 
ages after. William the Conqueror, on leading his Norman 
hosts to England, sang the song of Roland before them ; and 
the Basque peasant still points out the spot where the flower 
of heroism fell. 

§ 8. The Bavarians were the only people in the kingdom 
who still retained their own national duke at their head. 
This prince, Tassilo, married Luitberga, daughter of Deside- 
riuR, and was thus brother-in-law to Adelgis, the exiled heir 



Chap. IV. EXTENT OF CHARLES'S REALM. 89 

to the old Lombard throne. Called by Charles to a reckon- 
ing for his rash eifort to restore Adelgis, and closely watched, 
he still ventured to enter into a conspiracy with the Avari, 
who then ruled over the Sclavonic tribes of Bohemia and Mo- 
ravia. But Charles was beforehand with him, eagerly seiz- 
ing his opportunity to do away with the last of the German 
princes who was partly independent of him. Tassilo, his 
wife and child, were driven into a convent, and Bavaria, too, 
was incorporated into the kingdom of the Franks (a.d. 788). 
Charles then, in 791, marched against the Avari, a Tartar 
tribe, which had taken possession of Hungary after the mi- 
gration of the Lombards. He drove them far back into 
their country, and his son, Pepin, captured one of their 
"Rings," or inclosures made with embankments of earth, con- 
taining the booty which they had been collecting for gen- 
erations. This was the end of their power, and almost of 
their existence as a people. Charles wrested from them the 
land from the Ems to the Raab, and formed of it the Ava- 
rian viceroyalty. Bavarians were planted there as colonists, 
and the country was annexed to the ecclesiastical province 
of Salzburg. It became the germ of the Austrian Empire. 

§ 9. As soon as his Saxon conquests were assured to him, 
the plans of Charles took a wider range. The country lying 
eastward of the Elbe, the Saale, and the Bohemian forest, had 
once belonged to Germans ; but during the great migrations 
they had abandoned it, and it had been occupied by Sclaves, 
or, as the Germans called them. Wends, They were still 
heathen, and were divided into many petty tribes. The Ab- 
odrites dwelt in what is now Mecklenburg ; the Wilzi in 
Brandenburg ; the Sorbi east of the Saale ; and the Czechs, 
as now, in Bohemia. Charles wished to bring them into the 
empire and the Church ; and began the work, which was, 
however, only to be completed centuries later by the slow, 
gradual advance of the German nation to its ancient front- 
iers of the Oder and the Vistula. Charles employed the 
xA.bodrites at an early day as allies against the Saxons, and 
afterward against the Wilzi. The latter tribe was subdued 
by him in 789 ; and the Sorbi and Bohemians also accepted 
a sort of dependent relation to him. As a protection against 
these Sclaves, Charles founded his frontier governments, and 



90 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

built fortresses, such as Halle on the Saale, and, on the Elbe, 
Magdeburg and Biichen, though Hamburg was afterward 
substituted for the latter. In his Saxon viceroyalty (march), 
as we shall see hereafter, lay the earliest germ of Branden- 
burg and of modern Prussia. 

The dominions of Charles were now bounded on the north 
by the Eider; on the east by the Elbe and the Raab ; and 
on the south by the Garigliauo and the Ebro. They em- 
braced all the people of German descent, except the Anglo- 
Saxons and the still heathen Northmen of Scandinavia. His 
masterly mind combined all these nations under one govern- 
ment, Avhich Avas so organized as to carry out efficiently his 
will. The throne thus built up, by Charles's conquests and 
statesmanship, was without any counterpart in history save 
that of the Cassars, and it justly challenged the name of 
empire. But the king assumed no title corresponding with 
his dignity, until the pope bestowed on him the imperial 
crown, with the blessing of the Church. 

§ 10. The Church was still more thoroughly organized than 
the State. The bishops, who had at first been the shepherds 
and guides of the individual churches, soon came to be ac- 
knowledged as the most important officers in them ; and 
those who presided over the Christian communities which 
the apostles had founded were invested with a peculiar dig- 
nity. This was especially true of Rome, where Paul and 
Peter were believed to have labored, and where, according 
to the traditions of the Church, they died the death of mar- 
tyrs. It was supposed that the Christian faith would here 
find its purest fountain, and that all other churches must en- 
deavor to keep themselves in harmony with Rome. In all 
the great schisms and conflicts over the fiiith which agitated 
the Church from the fourth century to the ninth, the bishops 
of Rome had steadfastly held to the orthodox doctrines : 
those, namely, which were approved by the general councils 
as true. Their importance grew still greater after the fall 
of the Western Empire ; for the German conquerors were 
Arians, and therefore heretics, while the old subjects of Rome 
were attached to the orthodox faith, and looked to the Bish- 
op of Rome — so lately the capital of the world — as their 
spiritual protector. Able men, obtaining the office, increased 



Chap. IV. CHARLEMAGNE CROWNED EMPEROR. 91 

its dignity by their own deeds ; as Leo the Great, who, in 
452, induced Attila to retire from Italy ; or Gregory the Great 
(590-604), who converted the Anglo-Saxons, and who gave 
to the Catholic form of worship that magnificence which had 
so memorable an influence on the popular mind. Even in 
liis time, the Bishop of Rome was already distinguished from 
other bishops by the name of pope. 

§ 11. The Franks, in- the time of Clovis, had adopted the 
Catholic creed, though all the rest of the Germans were 
Arians or heathens ; and thenceforth there was a close friend- 
ship between the Franks and Rome. They now were the cen- 
tre of an empire which included all the Germans, and the Ro- 
man Catholic Church, by their means, became the prevailing 
form of Christianity. From the time of Pepin, his house had 
been in intimate alliance with the pope, who had consecrated 
his usurped crown. Their relations became still closer under 
Charlemagne, and the union of the two great powers of the 
age — the Empire and the Church — found its complete expres- 
sion and symbol in his coronation by the pope. In 799, while 
Charles was at Paderborn, he was visited by Pope Leo III., 
who, having been attacked by the kindred of his predecessor, 
while engaged in a procession at Rome, and grievously mal- 
treated, had fled in great distress. He was accused of many 
crimes, and Charles at once instituted a rigid investigation 
of his conduct. He then escorted him to Rome in person, at 
the head of his army. Here, on Christmas-day, in the year 
800, in St. Peter's Cathedral, the pope set the imperial crown 
of Rome on the head of the great king of the Franks ; while 
all the people shouted, "To Charles Augustus, crowned of 
God, the great and peaceful Emperor of the Romans, life and 
victory." For the words "Empire" and "Rome" were still 
inseparably associated in the minds of men, 

§ 12. It was his title of emperor that gave to the power of 
Charlemagne its complete significance. From that time, the 
people regarded his reign as the revival of the old Roman 
Empire, which had so long ruled the world. To the peo- 
ple the emperor was the head of the whole Christian world, 
its supreme governor and protector. He was the source of 
all earthly authority and government; which from him ex-, 
tended downward step by step to kings, dukes, counts, and 



92 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

even to the lowest vassal. His ojffice was, first of all, that of 
guardian of the Christian Church and of the true faith. In 
this calling he regarded himself as belonging to all nations, 
and not peculiarly to any ; jet the new universal empire de- 
pended on the Germans, as the old one had upon the Romans. 
But the conception of the empire, grand and attractive as it 
was, was too lofty to be realized. Even Charlemagne was 
not the emperor of all German Christians, much less of the 
whole of the Christian Church. Beside him, with equal claims, 
though without power to enforce them, stood the Emperor of 
the East at Constantinople; while the Anglo-Saxons remained 
in secure independence on their island. And where Charle- 
magne failed, no other emperor has succeeded. 

§ 13. Wliile the secular sword is wielded by the emperor, 
the spiritual is in the hands of the pope. The two authorities, 
it was originally believed, ought to be kept apart. The pope, 
in a political sense, was still a subject of the empire. But he 
was also the spiritual father, from whose hands the highest 
of earthly monarchs accepted his crown with reverence. Thus 
the distinctions of rank between them compensated for one 
another, and the two dignities assumed a sort of equality. 
The pope was the head of the spiritual state, or the Church. 
He was the source of all spiritual dignity and government ; 
archbishops, bishops, and all the clergy, down to the lowest, 
derived their authority from him. The Empire and the 
Church were to support and serve one another, living to- 
gether like body and soul ; the Empire guarding the interests 
of the Church with the sword, and the Church consecrating 
the organization and work of the Empire. Such was the 
theoretical relation between the two great authorities in the 
Middle Ages ; and for a time they really worked side by side 
in harmony, and maintained, in many respects beneficially, a 
beautiful balance of power. 

§ 14. The civil order of the empire resembled that of the 
Merovingian kingdom, but was an improvement upon it. The 
ancient dukedoms, with the hereditary rulers of the conquered 
nations at their head, had constantly reminded the people of 
the times of their independence, and were now abolished. 
The whole country was divided into districts, each ruled by 
a count appointed by the king ; and these districts or counties 



Chap. IV. GOVERNMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 93 

were further divided into smaller districts or circuits, corre- 
sponding nearly to the ancient hundreds, under the govern- 
ment of subordinate noblemen, called centeniers or vicaires, 
and afterward viscounts. The count held, in the king's name, 
a high court of justice every month, assisted by from seven to 
twelve royal judges (scabins), selected by himself from among 
the most eminent men of his county. Here he administered 
the law in all cases involving life, liberty, and estate. He 
also commanded the whole militia of his district in time of 
war. The centenier held a court every week for cases of less 
importance. Upon the border were erected the " marches," 
where the margraves or counts of the marches exercised more 
extensive powers than the counts of the interior. They were, 
in fact, organized as military frontiers, for the defense of the 
empire. The proprietors of land here were all immediate 
feudal vassals of the king, bound to military service at the 
summons of the court. Thus, on the eastern frontier stood 
(1) Friaul; (2) the Wendish march, adjoining Carinthia; (3) 
Steiermark (Styria) ; (4) the Avarian march, or that of Eastern 
Bavaria; (5) the northern district, between the Danube and 
the Fichtel Mountains ; and the (6) Thuringian and (7) Saxon 
marches. In his own domains, the executive power of the 
king was represented by his sheriffs (vogts), the judicial pow- 
er by his royal judges. Every three months, all these officers 
Avere visited by two royal deputies (missi dominici), usually 
a count and a bishop, who communicated to them the empe- 
ror's will, and reported their conduct to him. The officers 
were paid, not in money, but in land, to be held by the feu- 
dal tenure. 

§ 15. In war the king summoned his vassals, who led their 
people to join him. The higher clergy, archbishops, bishops, 
and abbots, were among these vassals; but their spiritual 
dignity exempted them from personal field service, though 
in after-days they often waived this privilege. They were 
generally represented in the army by their deputies or sher- 
iffs. The next summons was a general levy of the freemen 
of the empire, who served under their counts and centeniers. 
Each freeman came mounted or on foot, according to his 
wealth; while the very poor could only combine in threes or 
fives to fit out one soldier for the field. These found the serv- 



94 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

ice a heavy burden, since they received no pay, and had to 
support themselves. Besides, the counts were often arbitrary 
in recruiting. To avoid this kind of oppression, multitudes 
of the freemen surrendered their estates to some great feudal 
lord, consenting to hold them as his vassals, and to become " his 
men." In this way Charlemagne introduced into his kingdom 
a settled order and unity of organization, such as the Germans 
had not before known, and made sure of always having a 
great military force ready for action. The ancient freedom 
and independence of the German communities disappeared, 
and the strength of the empire was thenceforth founded upon 
the system of vassalage, and depended upon the feudal no- 
bility. Charlemagne indeed continued to hold every year, 
in May, the general assembly of the freemen (maifeld) ; but 
the great spiritual and secular vassals had already attained 
such a predominance that they alone were consulted in pro- 
mulgating the laws or decrees — the "capitularies" — which 
were drawn up in Latin, and regulated the government both 
of Church and State. At these assemblies, and at the smaller 
ones held in the autumn, the emperor received the regular 
tributary gifts of his subjects, which were regarded as a sort 
of tax. Apart from these no duties were levied ; and the 
revenues of the crown lands or royal domains were the chief 
support of the court. Charlemagne gave his personal atten- 
tion to these possessions, as his own private estates; and even 
prescribed what trees and flowers should be cultivated upon 
them, and what amounts of meat and vegetables should be 
kept in store. He had traveling chamberlains to superintend 
the management of his domains in the remoter districts. 
Charlemagne had no fortified residence. He traveled through 
the whole empire, and had palaces for his accommodation in 
many places. He spent much time on the Rhine, at Ingel- 
heim, Mayence, or Nimeguen ; but was especially fond of 
Aix, for the sake of the baths ; and here he built a splendid 
residence and a noble cathedral. He was zealous in encour- 
aging trade; opened roads, and even undertook to connect 
the Main and the Danube by a canal. Yet the migratory 
and active Greeks, Arabs, and Jews kept trade almost en- 
tirely in their own hands ; while the Germans despised it, and 
clung to the plow or the sword. 



Chap. IV. CHARLES IN HISTORY AND LEGEND. 95 

§ 16. Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, is the name which 
history has agreed to give to the founder of the German Em- 
pire — incorporating the epithet with the name itself We 
have recited in outline the facts of his wonderful career, as 
they are recorded in the meagre records of contemporary 
historians, and must rely upon the same authentic testimony 
in attempting to estimate his mind, character, and work. But 
the Charles of history is one ; the Charles of heroic legend 
and popular fame is another. The former is a powerful con- 
queror and a politic statesman, whom some eminent writers 
regard as the greatest of all monarchs; the latter is a Chris- 
tian saint, superhuman in strength, beauty, and wisdom, in- 
capable of defeat in war, of error in judgment, or of infirmity 
or corruption in his own will. Thus the song of Roland says : 
" His eyes shone like the morning star ; his glance was daz- 
zling as the noonday sun. Terrible to his foes, kind to the 
poor, victorious in war, merciful to offenders, devoted to God, 
he was an upright judge, who knew all the laws, and taught 
them to his people as he learned them from the angels. In 
short, he bore the sword as God's own servant." As Theod- 
oric had been the centre of the ancient popular minstrelsy, 
so Charles the Great became the central figure in that more 
cultivated heroic poetry, chiefly the work of the clergy, in 
which were celebrated the deeds of the twelve Paladins, with 
Roland and the fight of Roncesvalles — 

" When Charlemain with all his peerage fell 
By Fontarabia." 

When we consider the profound impression made on the pop- 
ular mind by his person, as represented in legend and song, 
we are almost ready to inquire whether its influence upon 
later German history was not greater than that of his au- 
thentic achievements. But it is true that the entire German 
race owes to him its first political organization. It was the 
purpose of his life, which never wavered, to unite all the Ger- 
man tribes under the control of one imperial government and 
of one Christian Church. In the greater part of this work he 
succeeded, and thus left the stamp of his mind upon the fol- 
lowing centuries, through all the Middle Ages. The national 
consciousness of the collective German tribes dates from his 
reign, and it is at the beginning of the ninth century that 



96 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

" the Germans " are first spoken of in contrast with the Ro- 
man peoples of the empire, although the national name did 
not come into general use until four generations later, in the 
reign of Otto the Great. When Charles mounted the throne, 
he was twenty-four years of age, in the strength and prime of 
his youth. His person was huge and strong, combining the 
presence and muscular power of the heroes of song ; so that 
he found it sport to fight with the gigantic wild bulls in the 
forest of Ardennes. His passion for labor, war, and danger 
was that of the adventurous warriors of the great migration. 
In the momentous affairs of state, he exhibited the want of 
feeling and the unscrupulousness which have been common 
to nearly all great warriors; but in daily intercourse with 
those around him, he had the mildness, cheerfulness, and 
freshness of spirit which add so much grace to true greatness. 
These characteristics were those of his people ; but that which 
especially distinguished him was the far-seeing mind, which 
had caught from ancient Rome the conception of a universal 
state, and was wise enough, without slavish copying, to adapt 
this conception to the jjeculiar requirements of the widely 
difierent race he ruled. This lofty intellect appears the more 
wonderful, that no one can tell how he obtained his mental 
growth, or who were his instructors ; he seems to shine out 
of the darkness of his age like a sun. 

§17. Charlemagne's active mind gave attention to all mat- 
ters, great and small. His untiring diligence, and his sur- 
prising swiftness in apprehension and decision, enabled him 
to dispatch an amount of business perhaps never undertaken 
by another monarch, unless by Frederick H., of Prussia, or by 
Napoleon Bonaparte. He was simple in his own attire, usu- 
ually wearing a linen coat, woven at home by the women of 
his own family, and over it the large, warm Frisian mantle ; 
and he demanded simplicity in his followers, and scofled at 
his courtiers when their gorgeous silks and tinsel, brought 
from the East, were torn to rags in the rough work of the 
chase. Hunting in his favorite forest of Ardennes was the 
chief delight and recreation of his court. Next to this, he 
enjoyed swimming in the warm baths at Aix, which became 
his favorite residence. At his meals he listened to reading ; 
and even condescended to join the monks, detailed for the 



Chap. IV. CHARACTER OF CHARLEMAGNE. 97 

purpose, in reading exercises. He founded schools in all the 
convents, and visited them in person, encouraging the dili- 
gent pupils, and reproving the negligent. He also intro- 
duced Roman teachers of music, to improve the church-sing- 
ing of the Franks ; while he requii'ed that sermons should be 
preached in the language of the people. Thus he diligently 
promoted popular education, while he strove to make up by 
study what he had lost by the neglect of his own culture in 
youth. He gathered men of learning — poets, historians, and 
copyists — around him, the most prominent of them being An- 
glo-Saxons, of whom the wise and pious Alcuin was chief 
Even when an old man, he found time, though often only at 
night, to practice in writing his hand so accustomed to the 
sword; and having long been familiar with the Latin lan- 
guage, which he tried to difiuse among the people, undertook 
to learn the Greek also. He highly esteemed his native lan- 
guage, too. He gave German names to the months and the 
winds ; caused a German grammar to be compiled ; and took 
pains to collect the ancient heroic songs of the German min- 
strels, though his son, in his monkish zeal, destroyed them. 
He reverenced the clergy highly: granted them tithes through- 
out the empire, and every where w^atched over the increasing 
endowments and estates of the Church, in whose possessions 
at that time both agriculture and morality were better cared 
for than elsewhere. Most of the bishops and abbots were se- 
lected t)y the king himself. 

§ 18. Charlemagne's personal character must not be judged 
by the standards of a time so remote from him as ours. He 
lias been called dissolute ; and it is true that he utterly dis- 
regarded the marriage tie, when it would limit either his 
pleasures or his ambition. He married five wives, only to 
dishonor them. He even encouraged, as it seems, his own 
daughters to live loose lives at home ; refusing to give them 
in marriage to princes, lest their husbands might become com- 
petitors for a share of the kingdom. But he was never eon- 
trolled by his favorite women, nor did he neglect state busi- 
ness for indulgence. Chai-lemagne has been censured as cru- 
el ; and, indeed, there are few acts recoi'ded in history of more 
wanton cruelty than his slaughter in cold blood of thousands 
of Saxons at Verden. Yet this was not done in the exercise 

H 



98 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I. 

of passion or hatred, but as a measure of policy, a means de- 
liberately devised to secure a definite end, in which it was 
successful. Charlemagne was never cruel upon impulse ; but 
his inclinations were to gentleness and kindness. The key 
to his character is his unbounded ambition. In the pursuit 
of power he knew no scruple ; the most direct and efficient 
means were always the right means to him. There is no 
doubt of his earnest attachment to the Christian Church and 
to the orthodox doctrines, as he understood them. But this 
was not associated with an appreciation of Christian morali- 
ty, or a sense of human brotherhood. His passion for con- 
quest was in large part a fanatical zeal for the propagation of 
a religion which he regarded as inseparable from his empire. 
Charlemagne was held in high honor by foreign nations. 
The Caliph of Bagdad, Haroun-al-Raschid, wielded in the 
East a power comparable with his own. To Charlemagne he 
sent a friendly embassy, with precious gifts, and it was recip- 
rocated in the same spirit. The kings of the Normans ex- 
pressed their respect for him in a similar way. But his own 
taste esteemed the ring of a good sword more than gold. 
His person and his private life have been vividly depicted to 
us by Einhard (Eginhard), a youth educated at his court, 
to whom, according to legend, the emperor gave one of his 
daughters for a wife. Charlemagne was tall and strongly 
formed, measuring from crown to sole seven times the length 
of his own foot. He had an open brow, very large, quick 
eyes, an abundance of fine hair, which was white in his last 
years, and a cheerful countenance. 




Lewis the Pious (814-840). 



BOOK 11. 



FROM CHARLEMAGNE TO THE GREAT INTERREGNUM, 

814-1254. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE CARLOVINGIAN EMPERORS, 814-918, 

§ 1. Death of Charlemagne. His Children. § 2. Lewis the Pious and hi.- 
Sons. § 3. Dissensions in the Family. Death of Lewis. § 4. Division 
of the Empire. § 5. Its distinct Races and Languages. § 6. The Eo- 



100 HISTORY OF GERMANY, Book II. 

mance Races. § 7. High and Low German. § 8. The Carlovingians. 
Reunion of the Franks under Charles the Fat. § 9. Decline of the Royal 
Authority. § 10. Arnulf. The Kingdom of Burgundy. § 11. The Nor- 
mans. § 12. Arnulf Defeats them. § 13. Disintegration of Germany. 
§ 14. The Magyars. § 15. Conrad I. His Failures and Death. 

§ 1. As Charlemagne advanced in years, he sought in still 
closer union with the Church, and in the favor of its authori- 
ties, the consolation which neither his family nor his people 
afforded him. His eldest son, Charles, who most resembled 
the great emperor, died in 811, leaving no children. His sec- 
ond son, Pepin, also a valiant and able youth, died in 810, 
leaving one child, Bernard. There remained only the young- 
est son, Lewis, who was educated by the Church, and formed 
while quite young an ineradicable passion for a monastic 
life. Charlemagne lamented his lost sons, and hesitated for 
a time how to dispose of the empire. But in 813 he became 
conscious of the rapid approach of death, and called together 
an assembly of his nobles in the cathedral of Aix, where he 
caused Lewis to be proclaimed and crowned as joint empe- 
ror. It was provided that Lewis should be sole emperor at 
his father's death ; but that Bernard should be King of 
Italy, subject only to the feudal supremacy of his uncle's 
crown. On January 28, 814, Charlemagne died, 

§ 2. Lewis, who now, at the age of thirty-six, succeeded to 
the most powerful monarchy on earth, has ever since been 
known by the Germans as Lewis the Pious, by the French as 
Louis the Gentle (le debonnaire). His claim to the former 
title seems to lie in his superstitious ignorance ; to the latter 
in his cowardly weakness, which sometimes resembled cruelty. 
But he diligently served the Church. The merry court of 
Charlemagne now put on the aspect of a monastery. The new 
emperor was zealous in prosecuting the missionary work in 
the north, on the Scandinavian frontier, with the convent of 
Corvey on the Weser as its centre. It was to support these 
missions that Hamburg was founded, and, with the older 
Bremen, made an archiepiscopal see, St. Ansgarius, distin- 
guished for his unwearying activity among the northern 
heathen, although his labors had borne little fruit, was the 
first archbishop of this double see, so influential in North Ger- 
many, In the government of the empire, Lewis soon dis- 



Chap. V. REIGN OF LEWIS THE PIOUS. 101 

played a deplorable weakness. He relaxed the strict regula- 
tions for levying troops which his father had devised, distrib- 
uted in multitudes exemptions from taxation and independ- 
ent judicial authority, and neglected to exercise his rights 
over his vassals to such an extent that they began to regard 
their feudal tenures almost as hereditary. The empire seem- 
ed already to tremble. But a strong clerical purty, which 
had a great influence over him, sought to meet this danger 
by inducing him, in 817, though he was but thirty-nine years 
of age, to associate his three sons with him in the govern- 
ment, and to partition the realm among them. The oldest, 
Lothaire, was made joint emperor with his father; Pepin 
took Aquitaine, and indeed all the south and southwest of 
Gaul; and Lewis took Bavaria and Bohemia. The rest of 
the empire was ruled by Lothaire and his father together. 
Thus a division was made; but it was accompanied with a 
convention or covenant, which was to secure the empire its 
unity. Lothaire, as associate emperor, ruled directly over 
by far the largest part of the realm, and his brothers were 
subordinate kings, who were required to recognize their elder 
brother as their sovereign, and could make neither war nor 
peace without his consent. 

§ 3. Bernard, to whom Charlemagne had given Italy, be- 
lieved that, as the son of the great emperor's eldest son, he 
was entitled to a large share of the realm. Oflended that ho 
was entirely neglected in the partition, he threatened to rebel 
against the emperor. But he soon saw the hopelessness of 
resistance to the empire, and penitently submitted to his un- 
cle, upon a promise of pardon and favor. Lewis, however, 
sat in judgment upon his conduct, with the greater nobles 
and clergy, and condemned him and three of his nearest 
fi'iends to lose their eyes. Under this cruel punishment 
they all sank and died, and Italy was given to the favorite 
son, Lothaire. Lewis sufiered bitter reproaches from his 
own conscience for this deed ; and was further deeply 
afflicted by the death of his wjfe in the same year, 818. 
He would have been glad to seek refuge and rest in the 
cloister, but his favoi'ites easily induced him the following 
year to marry again ; and his new wife, Judith, daughter of 
Count Welf of Bavaria, obtained a great influence over him. 



102 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

She brought him a son, Charles, afterward called the Bald, 
and Lewis determined to make a new division of the empire 
for his benefit. At this time the Spanish margrave, Bernard 
of Barcelona, who had distinguished himself in suppressing 
a conspiracy against Lewis, was made by him chief minister 
of the empire. Bernard was the favorite of Queen Judith, 
and was even believed by many to be the father of young 
Charles. Out of hatred to him, and of fear for their own 
possessions, Lothaire and Pepin united their forces in re- 
bellion. The youngest son, Lewis, at first joined his broth- 
ers in their enterprise ; but when he saw that the suc- 
cess of the rebellion was likely to benefit no one but Lo- 
thaire, he led the East Franks, Bavarians, and Saxons to 
join his father, and secured the victory to him. In a new 
division, in 833, the emperor attempted to give his youngest 
son, Charles, the kingdom of Aquitaine, of which he had dis- 
possessed the rebellious Pepin; but this at last led all the 
three sons of Irmengard to take arms together, and wage a 
parricidal war against him. The old Lewis had still a strong 
party. He took up a f)osition at Colmar, in Alsace, opposite 
his sons' camp. The pope came to him there, as a mediator 
and judge in the dissensions of the empire, and made a show 
of attempts at negotiation and reconciliation, but in reality 
threw all his influence in favor of the sons ; and then the 
commanders of the army secretly abandoned the father and 
joined the sons. The emperor stood alone in his deserted 
camp, thenceforth called the Field of Lies. He gave him- 
self up to his sons. Lothaire not only treated his father 
harshly as a prisoner, but employed priests to work upon his 
religious feelings, and to terrify him by threats of eternal 
punishment into abdicating the throne. Lie failed in this; 
but the old king was so depressed and humiliated that he 
consented to appear publicly in the church, in the garb of a 
penitent, and to read aloud a long confession of his sins. This 
act had all the moral efl:ect of an abdication. The younger 
sons were indignant at the treatment of their father, and, 
strongly supported by public opinion, they rescued him and 
set him on his throne again. There was now an interval of 
peace, the family feud pausing until the year 838. The old 
emperor endeavored to extend the dominions of Charles the 



Chap. V. DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE. 103 

Bald at the expense of- Lewis the German, the youngest son 
of his first marriage ; and when Pepin died, he assigned to 
Charles his share also. Lewis again took up arms against 
his father; but the latter, while engaged in a campaign 
against him, died, upon an island in the Rhine near Ingel- 
heim, a.d. 840. The bishops around the dying emperor be- 
souglit him to forgive his son. He answered, " I do forgive 
him; but let him know that he has brought me to my death." 
§ 4. Lothaire, succeeding alone to the title of emperor, now 
endeavored to make himself sole master of the whole empire. 
But Lewis the German and Charles the Bald demanded a 
partition, according to precedent among the Franks. Thus 
arose a new fraternal war. Lothaire formed an alliance with 
the surviving sons of his brother Pepin, Avho had been en- 
tirely excluded from their inheritance. Lewis the German 
was supported not only by his Bavarians, but by the other 
tribes which afterward formed the German nation — the Sax- 
ons, Suabians, and Northeastern Franks ; and thus, charac- 
teristically, the first great enterprise in which these tribes 
were united was to throw oflT the yoke of that united cler- 
ical empire which the priesthood strove to secure to Lo- 
thaire. A great battle betw^een the two parties was fought 
in 841 at Fontenay (now Fontenaille, near Auxerre), at the 
"Brook of the Burgundians." Lothaire was defeated, but 
the knightly strength of the empire was left on the field. 
Lothaire protracted the struggle, with no scruple as to the 
means he used. He invited the piratical Normans to invade 
the country and attack his brothers. He stirred up the Sax- 
.on peasantry to desert Lewis, and to return to heathenism 
and to their ancient freedom. But the battle of P^ontenay 
had decided the future of Europe, and the clerical 'and Ro- 
man idea of universal empire was practically a thing of the 
past. At last, driven to extremities, Lothaire signed in 843 
the treaty of Verdun with his brothers, and a new division 
of the empire was made. Lothaire, with the title of emperor, 
received Italy, and a strip of land extending from the Med- 
iterranean to the North Sea, along the rivers Rhone, Saone, 
Rhine, and Maas, and also Friesland. This strange form 
was given to his empire in order to preserve to him Rome 
and Aix, the two ancient capitals of Charlemagne. The 



104 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book IT. 



country west of it, almost corresponding to what is now 
France, fell to Charles the Bald; and that east of Lothaire 
to Lewis the German, who also obtained those districts on 
the left bank of the Rhine which belonged to the arcli- 
bishopric of Mayence, among others the cities of Mayence, 
Worms, and Spires. Thus the empire of Charlemagne was 
carved into three divisions — Italy, including Burgundy ; 
France (the Western Franks) ; and Germany (or the Eastern 
Franks). 




Lewis the German (876). 

§ 5. The idea of a Christian empire which should unite 
the whole Western world — that grand conception of Charle- 
magne, supported by the Catholic Church — was destroyed 



Chap. V. LANGUAGES OF THE EMPIRE. 105 

by this partition. But the end thus reached — the division of 
the vast empire into nations — was inevitable. For the Ro- 
mance nations were already taking form, in distinction from 
the Germans. At the foundation of the old Frank kingdom 
by Clovis, the Franks occupied all Roman Gaul, as ruling 
noblemen and proprietors of the soil. They preserved for a 
long time their German peculiarities, and especially their 
language. The influence of the older and more numerous 
" Welsh " people grew again into prominence, but was sup- 
pressed by Charlemagne. His descendants at their imperial 
court in France continued in the tenth century to speak the 
German language. But the popular dialect of the country 
was, in structure and substance, a corrupt form of Latin, 
though it borrowed many words and forms from the Ger- 
man ; and it rapidly gained ground, even among the Franks, 
after it was adopted by the Church. Thus the French lan- 
guage grew up in Gaul, out of a mixture of the Latin with 
a few German elements ; while in Austrasia, where the 
masses of the people were Germans, their original language 
was of course retained. This was called the Folks-speech 
(Thiudisc or Diutisc, Deutsch), in contrast with Latin, which 
was the language of dignity, of learning, and of the Church. 
When Lewis the German and Charles the Bald, in 846, re- 
newed their oaths of friendship at Strasburg, the knights of 
Austrasia and those of Neustria could no longer understand 
one another. The former took the oath in the old German 
language; but the oath taken by the West Franks or Neu- 
strians, which has been preserved, is the earliest record of the 
language in which it is written. It was the popular lan- 
guage of Gaul at the time, and could no longer be called 
Latin ; although a century more of gradual change was nec- 
essary before it could be recognized as French. 

§ 6. French was formed before the other Romance languages. 
The Lombards in Italy held the same relation to the masses 
of the people, in respect to their language, as the Franks in 
France. These, too, from the tenth century, gradually aban- 
doned the use of German ; and the popular language, after- 
ward called the Italian, grew out of the mixture of foreign 
elements with the corrupted Latin. The Visigoths in Spain, 
who had been driven into the northern mountains of the 



106 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IF. 

peninsula by the Arabs, had long given up their German 
dialect. Among them was formed the Spanish language, 
which also contains German elements, and from a branch of 
which, as the Christians gradually drove the infidels before 
them, the Portuguese was developed. Thus the German lan- 
guage disappeared from these several countries, though not 
without leaving, in the Romance languages named above, 
deep traces of its former supremacy ; just as the feudal or- 
ganization of society, which jjrevailed in the Romance na- 
tions during the Middle Ages, was also of German origin. 
In short, the Germans left their stamp upon all the nations 
of the Middle Ages, in their language, their civil polity, their 
modes of thought, and habits of life. 

§ 7. In the German language there were two very distinct 
branches : the High and the Low German, the latter (Platt- 
deutsch) being the language of the Saxons, and closely re- 
sembling the FrisiaiT and the Anglo-Saxon. The High-Ger- 
man included the local dialects of several tribes, known as 
the Frankish, Allemannic, and Bavarian dialects, the first be- 
ing at this time predominant. This language, as it was 
spoken before the middle of the eleventh century, is known 
to philologists as the Old High-German (Althochdeutsch). 

§ 8. After the division of the empire of Charlemagne, the 
history of the Germans is properly limited to the countries 
in which the German language was spoken. It only remains 
to glance at the fate of the Carlovingian monarchies as a 
whole. 

The direct line of Charlemagne first became extinct in It- 
aly. Lothaire died in 855 ; his son Lewis II., who succeeded 
him in Italy as emperor, died without heirs in 875. Another 
son of Lothaire, called Lothaire II., obtained his northern do- 
mains, extending between the Rhine and the Maas to the sea, 
and named the country after himself, Lorraine (Lothringen). 
He died in 869, and in 870, by the convention of Mersen, his 
possessions were divided between his uncles, Charles the Bald 
and Lewis the German. Lewis thus obtained the dioceses of 
Utrecht, Strasburg, and Basle, and the ecclesiastical provinces 
of Treves and Cologne, with all the secular territory that lay 
within or between them, so that the boundary between the 
West Franks and the East Franks, or between France and 



Chap. V. THE FORGED DECRETALS. 107 

Germany, became almost identical with that between the 
French and German languages. 

Lewis the German reigned over Germany till 876, with 
some degree of strength and ability. The various tribes, 
long so jealous of their isolation, the Saxons, Bavarians, Alle- 
manni, and Franks, gradually began to accustom themselves 
to the idea of national unity. But all that had been gained 
in this respect was again imperiled by the division of his 
dominions among his sons. Here, again, as beyond the Rhine 
and the Alps, the curse of family dissensions destroyed the 
house of Charlemagne. The two elder sons, however, died 
young — Carloman in 880, and Lewis in 882; and thus, in the 
latter year, the youngest son, Charles the Fat, reunited the 
kingdom of the East Franks. At the same time the throne 
of the West Franks became vacant. Here the weak and 
tyrannical Charles the Bald had steadily yielded more and 
more of his royal prerogative before the encroachments of his 
noblemen, who for a long time had held their fiefs as hered- 
itary possessions, and not as the personal grants of the king. 
At his death, in 877, he left a ruined kingdom to his son, 
Louis the Stammerer, who, after a reign of but two years, 
left it to his sons Louis IH. and Carloman. These young- 
kings died in quick succession, like their German cousins. 
A third son, Charles the Simple, was but five years of age; 
and the French nobles elected for their king Charles the Fat, 
already king of the East Franks, the only legitimate survivor 
of Charlemagne's family who had attained manhood. 

§ 9. Charles the Fat had now been able to make himself 
master' of Italy also, and to assume the title of emperor; so 
that the whole of the Carlovingian empire was for the mo- 
ment united in his hands. Its boundaries, at least, were 
nearly the same as under Charlemagne ; but its power was 
sadly changed. The popes were already sovereign in Italy. 
Amid the' distractions and strife which divided the empire, 
they had constantly been rising in influence and power ; and 
now, besides their spiritual supremacy, they began to aspire 
to a sort of universal secular lordship. The popes claimed 
the sole right to confer the imperial crown. They supported 
their most exaggerated claims by appealing to the so-called 
Decretals of Isidore — forged documents, which came to light 



108 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book II. 




Charles the Fat (S76-S87.) 

in the ninth century, purporting to be the decrees of ancient 
Church councils under the early popes, from Clement I. (a,d. 
91) to Damasus I. (died a.d. 384). They ascribed to the 
Bishop of Home a dignity far above that of all other bishops 
in Christendom, and declared the spiritual power entirely in- 
dependent of the temporal. These decretals, though forged 
in the barbaric Latin dialect of the ninth century, and full of 
gross anachronisms, continued to be regarded as genuine 
throughout the Middle Ages, and the forgery was not fully ex- 
posed and admitted until after the great Reformation. They 
may have been the work of some Frankish priest, whose aim 
was the freedom of the Church ; but they represented the pope 
as having been, in early Christianity, the centre and source of 



Chap. V. CHARLES THE FAT DEPOSED. 109 

dignity and power ; and, being generally received as true, they 
became a powerful agent in breaking down the independence 
of the metropolitan bishops, as well as the royal power. In 
Italy, especially, the imperial authority ceased to have any 
real significance. The bishops, each in his diocese represent- 
ing the pope, were respected as the lords of the land. Under 
the favoring influence of Pope John VIII., a separate king- 
dom was formed on the Rhone, called Burgundy, or Arelat 
(a.d. 879). It was founded b}^ Boso of Vienne, a noble Frank, 
who had married a granddaughter of the Emperor Lothaire. 

But the empire was now attacked on every side. In the 
east a Sclavonic throne, founded in Moravia by a king named 
Swatopluck (Zwentibold), rapidly extended its power, and 
threatened the frontier. In the south the Saracens crossed the 
sea from Africa, and took possession of Sicily and Lower Italy; 
meeting here tlie Eastern Romans or Greeks of Constantino- 
ple, who had never relinquished their claim to Italy, and who 
had just seized Apulia. The whole northern coast of the 
Franks, from the Elbe to the Garonne, w^as infested by the 
Norman pirates of Denmark and Norway, Besides all this, 
the interior administration of the empire was in utter con- 
fusion. No law was obeyed, no discipline enforced. The 
nobles oppressed the people, and the people formed them- 
selves into bands of robbers. The empire of Charlemagne 
was hastening to utter ruin, 

§ 10, It was in vain that Charles the Fat was called on for 
aid in these distresses. Afflicted in body and narrow in 
mind, he was utterly unequal to the difficult task. Twice 
he bought of the Normans peace, by paying a heavy tribute; 
and he finally assigned them winter-quarters in Northwestern 
Germany, The patience of the German nobles was now ex- 
hausted, and they busied themselves with constant conspira- 
cies and revolts. In the year 887 they deposed Charles, and 
chose in his place Arnulf of Carinthia, a natural son of Carlo- 
man, son of Lewis the German. This act finally divided the 
Carlovingian dominions, and the thought of a united empire 
was abandoned. The French at the same time took for their 
leader Odo (or Eudes) of Paris, who had distinguished him- 
self in the recent defense of that city against the Normans, 
He was the son of a German warrior of inferior birth, named 



110 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book II. 




Aruuir (SS7-S9:)). 



Robert, who raised himself by his valor, and mariit'd a daugh- 
ter of Lewis the Pious. Charles the Fat was crushed by 
shame and misfortunes, and died wretchedly, January 12, 
888. His followers, who were especially numerous in South- 
ern Germany, gathered around Duke Conrad, a nephew of 
Judith, wife of Lewis the Pious ; and he founded in the coun- 
try between the Jura, the Alps, and the Rhine (afterward 
Switzerland) a new kingdom, called Burgundy, and distin- 
guished from the older Burgundy on the Rhine as Upper 
Burgundy, Rudolph L, the son of Conrad, became king of 
this countr3% and his title was recognized even by Arnulf. 
Thus the two neighboring kingdoms, Ui^per and Lower Bur- 



Chap.V. the carlo VINGIANS extinct. Ill 

gundy, came into the hands of kindred of the Carlo vingians. 
The two were united by Rudolph II., son of Rudolph I., in 
933, in the Kingdom of Burgundy. 

On the death of Charles the Fat, Odo (Eudes), whom 
Charles had made Duke of France, was chosen king, in spite 
of the claims of Charles the Simple, now but nine years of 
age. But the kingdom was full of disturbances, and a strong 
party was formed in favor of Charles, who was crowned at 
Rheims, in Odo's absence, in 893. After a short war, a treaty 
was made, by which Charles obtained part of Flanders at 
once, and was acknowledged as heir to the whole kingdom, 
to which he succeeded peacefully at the death of Odo, Janu- 
ary 3, 898. But Charles and his successors were weak. The 
great vassals of the empire had obtained the authority of 
princes, and in their own territories paid little or no regard 
to their feudal lord the king. In the year 987, by the death 
of a fifth Louis (" le Faineant," the lazy), the family of the 
Carlovingians ingloriously died out in France. Its end in 
Germany came sooner, though less shamefully. All these 
transformations in the former empire of Charlemagne were 
accompanied with immeasurable suflering among the people. 
Amid these convulsions the three great nations, Germany, 
France, and Italy, took their distinct and characteristic 
forms. 

§ 11. In these days, when the Carlovingian Empire seemed 
to be suffering the sad fate of the Roman, whose counterpart 
in so many respects it had been, hordes of Northern invaders 
again marched in search of conquest and plunder. Their 
movements might almost be regarded as the last waves of 
the great migrations. The Germans of the North, commonly 
called Northmen, or Normans, were still heathen ; and in 
their adventurous passion for war and booty, they were like 
the Goths, Franks, and Saxons of earlier days. They now 
began to make threatening inroads upon the empire of the 
Franks, along the whole coast. Their homes were in Den- 
mark and Norway. According to a popular legend, Charle- 
magne, in his old age, once saw their swift little vessels sail- 
ing by a port of Southern France, and predicted with tears 
that these bold adventurers would one day be a great evil 
to his successors. In his last years he gave diligent attention 



112 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

to the establishment of a fleet and the protection of the 
coast. But his successors neglected the work ; and his grand- 
son, Lothaire, even invited this terrible foe into the country, 
to fight against his brothers. The whole military strength 
of France was now in the hands of the great noblemen, who 
gradually destroyed one another in their civil wars. They 
were no match for these new and powerful foes, who besides 
were masters of the sea, to which the Franks had long been 
strangers. Indeed, the sea seemed to be the real home of 
this people. Their swift expeditions in search of plunder 
followed "the path of the swans" southward, the ancient 
way of victorious Northmen to plunder and luxury. They 
came in light vessels, their " steeds of the sea ;" and woe to 
the coasts on which these vikings fell. Cities and villages 
were burned, movables carried off", and the people led into 
slavery. Nor was the interior safe from them. With their 
light boats, they pursued the course of the great rivers, and 
carried into the heart of the country the terror they inspired 
on the sea. They conveyed their boats across from river to 
river, on men's shoulders or on wagons, so that even the land 
was no barrier to them. They began their inroads in the 
time of Lewis the Pious ; and in 845 they burned Hamburg. 
Soon afterward they sacked Aix, stabling their horses in the 
cathedral built by Charlemagne. They then laid in ashes 
Cologne, Nymwegen, Treves, and many other towns. A lit- 
tle later, they ventured to invade England, and entirely, sub- 
dued it; until Alfred the Great (a.d. 871-901), the grandson 
of Egbert, who first united the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, suc- 
ceeded in throwing off their yoke. In the same way they 
entered the channel, moved up the Seine, took Rouen, and 
repeatedly threatened Paris, at one time besieging it for ten 
months. Finally, when their piratical expeditions were over, 
they founded kingdoms, like the Germans of the great migra- 
tions. Charles the Simple first ceded to them, in 911, a prov- 
ince in Northern France, afterward called Normandy ; and 
their duke, Rollo, married Charles's daughter Gisela. The 
Normans who settled here became Christians, adopted the 
French language, and tempered their rough and quarrelsome 
bravery with finer knightly manners, like those of Southern 
France. It was these people who afterward, under William 



Chap. V. VICTORIES OF ARNULF. 113 

the Conqueror, son of Robert of Normandy ("the Devil"), 
crossed to England, and overthrew the kingdona of the An- 
glo-Saxons in the battle of Hastings, 1066; but their con- 
quest, though it greatly modified, did not destroy the Ger- 
man characteristics of the government and the people. In 
Sicily and Southern Italy another Norman kingdom was 
founded as early as 1016, and it afterward became closely in- 
volved in the history of the German Empire. Here, too, the 
Northmen gave up their own language, adopting the Italian. 
Even the beginnings of the Russian Empire may be traced 
to the Normans ; for under Rurik, the Waring, they founded, 
in 862, a monarchy reaching eastward to Novogorod, and 
afterward made Kiew, on the Dnieper, its capital. Thus a 
number of states were called into being by the migrations 
and conquests of the Norman branch of the German race. 

§ 12. Nevertheless, at the time when the German nobles 
deposed Charles the Fat, and chose Arnulf of Carinthia their 
king, these Normans were still fierce pirates, and were terri- 
ble enemies of the people on the Saxon and Frisian coasts. 
But though Arnulf was guilty of faults enough, and even of 
crimes, yet the mighty spirit of Charlemagne seemed once 
more to appear in him. He brought the deliverance which 
was expected of him. At the head of the Saxon nobles and 
others, he attacked the Normans in their fortified camp, in 
the swamps of the Dyle, near Lowen. The nature of the 
ground and the position of the enemy were singularly un- 
favorable to such fighting as the knightly noblemen had prac- 
ticed in France ; but Arnulf set the example of dismount- 
ing, and, taking in his hand the banner of the empire, led 
the way to storm the camp. The Normans were here so 
utterly defeated (September 1, 891) that they thenceforth 
gradually ceased to worry the German coast. Arnulf then 
turned against the new kingdom of Moravia, which, under 
Swatopluck II., had already wrested from Germany Bohe- 
mia and a large part of Pannonia, and whose people were 
just at this time converted to Christianity by the preaching 
of Methodius. Here, too, Arnulf 's strong sword was, on the 
whole, victorious; but Moravia was subdued rather by its 
own misfortunes than by the German king. At the death 
of Swatopluck II., in 894, his realm was divided ; and liis peo- 

I 



114 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

pie, hard pressed by the Magyars, again sought the friend- 
ship of the East Franks, while Bohemia returned to its alle- 
giance to Arnulf The pope finally invited him to Italy, 
and conferred upon him the imperial crown (896). He now 
seemed to be on the point of restoring the great Carlovingian 
Empire. But he soon after fell into troubles, especially in 
his own family ; and, bent by sorrow and sickness, or, as 
many affirm, by a slow Italian poison, died at Oettingen in 
the year 899, on his return to Germany. 

§ 13. The glory of the Carlovingians never revived. In 
Germany, Arnulf himself fell short of the ancient royal dig- 
nity. Now that the empire began to fall apart into distinct 
nations — Germans, French, and Italians — Germany, too, was 
threatened with division in the lines of the ancient tribes : 
into Saxons, Franks, Thuringians, Allemanni or Suabians, 
Bavarians, and Lotharingi. These several tribes stood out 
in bold contrast to one another, like so many distinct na- 
tions, nor had theyas yet in general use any common name ; 
the national ai^pellation "Deutsch" being then applied to 
the common language, indeed, but not yet to the people who 
spoke it. At the head of each tribe, ancient families, prom- 
inent for wealth and birth, had taken their places, and revived 
the old title of duke. These took the lead in public affairs, 
and usually had possession of former royal domains within 
the territory of their tribe. The king retained no authority, 
except as he could, like Arnulf, maintain it by his own vigor. 
After Arnulf's death, the title of sovereign fell to his only 
legitimate son, Lewis (899-911), a child of but seven years, 
so that it would soon have lost all its significance, but that 
the great clergy of the realm still wished to guard the unity 
of Charlemagne's empire. The primate, or foremost bishop 
in Germany, was the Bishop of Mayence, the ancient see of 
Boniface, which at this time was occupied by the severe 
and obstinate Hatto, who conducted the government in the 
name of the boy Lewis. He still holds an unenviable place 
in popular legends ; one of Avhich, for example, tells of his 
faithlessness to a Frank nobleman, one Adalbert, of Baben- 
berg. Adalbert intrusted himself to Hatto, under the bish- 
op's pledge of a safe conduct until his return. But Hatto 
met him just beyond the walls, and asked him for breakfast. 



Chap.V. HATTO of MAYENCE, "POPE OF GERMANY.' 115 




Lewis the Child (900-911). 

Adalbert "returned" with him, and entertained him hospit- 
ably ; and afterward Hatto declared his pledge fulfilled, and 
gave up his ward to death. But this warrior bishop had un- 
dertaken a hard task in defending the king's authority, and 
he deserves the credit of preserving the unity of the empire, 
and thus of saving Germany, though not without a struggle, 
nor without cruel severity. The popular view of his charac- 
ter is expressed in the well-known legend of the " Mouse- 
Tower," made familiar to English and American readers by 
Southey's ballad. This tower still stands on a small island 
in the Rhine, opposite Bingen, During a famine, Hatto is 
said to have enticed a multitude of the poor, who begged him 
for bread, into a great barn, and there to have burned them ; 
mocking at them as vermin who only consumed corn, tin- 



116 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

numbered mice started up, as in a new plague of Egypt, pur- 
sued the bishop, swimming the stream even to his tower, and 
devoured him there : 

" They have whetted their teeth against the stones, 
And now they pick the bishop's bones ; 
They gnawed the flesh from every limb, 
For they were sent to do judgment on him." 

§ 14, The empire was threatened with something more 
than disintegration. An external enemy, more terrible even 
than the Normans or the Sclaves, had appeared in their place. 
The plains of Hungary, which had been successively the tem- 
porary homes of the Huns, the Germans, and the Avari, were 
now invaded from the East by the Magyars — a fierce tribe of 
Finnish origin, who lived on horseback, and constantly made 
reckless and destructive incursions into neighboring lands. 
Like the Huns, they carried light armor, which, with the speed 
of their horses, made them dangerous to pursuers, as well as 
to those they attffcked, Arnulf called on them for help 
against the Moravians, whom they overthrew. But they 
soon began to threaten Germany itself; and broke through 
the eastern frontier. It now became evident how dangerous 
the system was which had grown up since the time of Charle- 
magne — of abandoning the general levy of troops by the sov- 
ereign, and relying upon the individual noblemen to summon 
their vassals. The result was that each tribe was concerned 
only for itself Many a duke, indeed, fought and fell heroic- 
ally at the head of his tribe ; among them Duke Leopold of 
Bavaria (90r), and Duke Bui-chard of Thuringia (908), who 
had made out of the former margraviate of Thuringia a tribal 
dukedom. His territory after his death was annexed to 
Saxony. 

But defeat followed defeat, till the barbarous hordes reached 
Saxony and Lorraine, A panic, like that caused by the Huns, 
went before them ; and the whole martial valor of Germany 
seemed to have departed. At last the king himself was driven 
to pay them tribute. Amid all this disaster and confusion, 
Lewis died in 911, not having attained manhood. 

§ 15, With Lewis, the German branch of the Carlo vingians 
became extinct. It almost seemed that the several tribes, 
under their dukes, would have no king again, and needed 



Chap. V. 



ELECTION OF A KING. 



117 



none. Yet the strongest of these tribes still cherished the 
great thought Charlemagne had taught them of a united 
empire. The election of another king was insisted on by 
both Franks and Saxons, and especially by the noble Saxon 
duke, Otto the Illustrious. The two tribes came together at 
Forchheim, on the Regnitz. The Carlovingians of the West- 
ern Franks pressed their claims; and, indeed, Charles the 
Simple was able the next year to annex Lorraine temporarily 
to France. But the assembly, while adhering to the Franks, 
and to the kindred of the old royal house, did not choose a 
Carlovingian. They first offered the crown to Otto of Sax- 
ony, and upon his refusal, chose Conrad, Duke of Franconia, a 




Conrad I. (911-91S). 



118 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

member of the noble family of the Conradini, and nearly akin 
to the Carlovingians, through a female branch. He reigned, 
as Conrad I., from 911 to 918. He was a man of presence and 
dignity, but of popular manners; and, on assuming his office, 
he asserted its authority with vigor. But he forgot that times 
were changed, and that the throne could no longer subject 
to itself i^owerful tribes and dukes, if they refused to accept 
it. Hatto's influence continued to preponderate, and, in spite 
of the king's limited power, he expected to succeed by forci- 
bly asserting and insisting on his supremacy. But the I'esult 
was that he failed in almost every thing. He could not even 
recover Lorraine from Charles the Simple, though he secured 
Alsace. He also committed the error, at the death of Otto 
the Illustrious, in 912, of quarreling with his son Henry and 
the Saxons. They chose Henry for their duke ; but the king 
refused to confirm to him all his feudal grants, and seems even 
to have denied him the royal domains in Saxony and Thu- 
ringia, which the dukes had always possessed in fee. Henry 
made war against the king, and defeated him utterly at Mer- 
seburg in 915, so that Saxon bards, in their minstrelsy, used 
to inquire what hell could be found large enough to hold the 
slain Franks. The legends describe cunning ambushes laid 
by Hatto, from which the gallant young duke narrowly es- 
caped. The king also quarreled with Duke Arnulf of Bava- 
ria, and with the two most powerful counts in Suabia, the 
imperial fiscal agents, Berthold and Erchanger. The Sua- 
bians up to this time had no tribal duke. While Conrad 
was thus carrying on an unsuccessful struggle, the Hunga- 
rians marched through the country to Bremen, in the ex- 
treme north. The king finally overcame the Suabians and 
Bavarians ; and then put to death Berthold and Erchanger, 
though they were his brothers-in-law, and had been the first 
to win a victory over the Hungarians — that of Passau, in 913. 
The Duke of the Bavarians was driven to take refuge with 
the Hungarians, who now again spread over South Germany. 
The king marched against them, but was wounded, and re- 
turned home. A still deeper wound was in his heart ; for he 
could not conceal it from himself that, with the best pur- 
poses, he had failed in all his undertakings as king, by mis- 
taking the moans to be employed. He felt that his death 



Chap. V. THE LAST ACT OF CONRAD. H9 

was approaching; and it was while dying that he accom- 
plished his greatest achievement, conqiiering himself and his 
own passions for the good of his kingdom. He called his 
brother, Eberhard, and exacted from him a promise to deliver 
his crown and his crown-jewels to his enemy, Henry, the 
powerful Duke of the Saxons, as the only man who could wear 
them with honor. Conrad died December 23, 918, and was 
buried at Fulda. The ancient annals represent Conrad as a 
genuine hero and a patriot. His short reign of seven years 
was devoted to the great object of uniting the Germans in 
one nation. He was personally kind and gentle, yet states- 
manlike, and capable of a wise severity. He administered 
the laws faithfully, and made others respect them by setting 
the example. But it is his crowning merit, and that which 
has always endeared him and his brother Eberhard to the 
historians and people of Germany, that they deliberately 
sacrificed the prospects of family aggrandizement for the 
peace and union of their fatherland. 

"Nothing in his life 
Became him like the leaving it. " 



120 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book II. 






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Henry I. (919-93C). 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE SAXON EMPEKORS, A.D. 919-1024, 

1 . The Saxons and Henry the Fowler. § 2. His Family, and Election as 
King. § 3. He Unites the Great Duchies. § 4. His Policy toward the 
Hungarians. § 5. He Conquers the Wends. § 6. Defeats the Hungari- 
ans. § 7. His Achievements and Death. § 8. Otto I., the Great, Suc- 
ceeds to the Throne. § 9. Rebellion of Eberhard and Thankmar. § 10. 
Henry of Bavaria Eevolts; Otto Victorious. § 11. Progress of National 
Union and of Christianity. § 12. The King's Personal Life, Eevenues, 
and Military Resources. § 13. Otto I. Visits Italy; Marries Adelheid. 
§ 14. The Rebellion of Ludolf and Conrad. § 15. Last Hungarian Inva- 



122 HISTORY OF GERMANY, Book II. 

sion; Battle of the Lech. § 16. Otto Crowned as Caesar; his Troubles 
in Italy. § 17. His Power, Character, and Death. § 18. Otto II. ; his 
War with France. § 19. Adventures in Italy, and Death. § 20. Otto 
III., "the Child;" Confusion in Germany. §21. Regency of Theophano 
and Adelheid. § 22. Otto's Fanaticism and Death. § 23. Claimants of 
the Throne; Henry II. § 21. He Restores the Unity of the Empire. §25. 
Growth of the Nobility in Power ; the King and the Clergy. § 2G. Henry 
II. in Italy ; his Death. § 27. The Imperial House of Saxony extinct. 

§ 1. The accession of Henry I. (the Fowler, 919-936) to the 
imperial throne was the event to which it may almost be said 
that the existence of the German nation in after-times is due. 
The Saxon tribes of the North, in the tenth century, were the 
most warlike and powerful branch of the German race. While 
the empire was in the hands of the Franks, the Saxons regard- 
ed it as the sovereignty of their conquerors ; and all their 
strong love of independence turned against the cause of Ger- 
man unity. Had the Carlovingians survived, or had the fam- 
ily of Conrad continued to assert its claims. North Germany 
might have been socially and politically separated from the 
Franks and Bavarians throughout the formative period of 
national life. But the Saxons loved their duke, and were 
proud of him. The election of Henry to the German throne 
gave them, for the first time, the position of an equal among 
the tribes of a nation, and they looked upon the empire as 
their own country. The Franks, too, easily transferred to 
the new monarch all the loyalty they had shown to their own 
dynasty, so that Henry I., on assuming the crown, had under 
him a more united people than any previous king of the Ger- 
mans. Hitherto the " King of the Romans " had been regard- 
ed as the successor of Constantine and Charlemagne, and the 
rightful head of all Christendom ; and, indeed, this conception 
of the empire as Roman and cosmopolitan was its bane in 
later times, when the solid interests of the German kingdom 
were steadily sacrificed to the empty name of an imperial 
dignity with its seat in Italy. But Henry was the first em- 
peror chosen and accepted by the whole German people as 
their king, and he is often called distinctively the founder of 
the German Empire. 

§ 2. The independent and warlike Saxons occupied the 
broad plains extending from the Rhine to the Elbe, and from 
the Hartz Mountains to the North Sea. They were constant- 



Chap. VI. FAMILY OF HENRY I. 123 

ly engaged in wars for the defense of their own frontiers 
against the barbarous tribes east of them, and thus preserved 
their military discipline and strength. But their social or- 
ganization had undergone great changes during the ninth 
century, and their ancient freedom and equality were largely 
lost. The noble families had steadily gained in wealth and 
power. A daughter of Witikind, who led the Saxons against 
Charlemagne in 777, married a nobleman of influence ; and 
one of their descendants, Ludolf, who was made Duke of the 
Saxons by Lewis the German, founded the great house of the 
Ludolfs, which rapidly became the most powerful and popu- 
lar among the Saxons. This duke declared his independence 
of the imperial crown, by establishing his authority as hered- 
itary in his own family. He was thus one of the pioneers in 
the great movement by which the rising territorial aristoc- 
racy now steadily encroached on the power of the empire, 
a movement efiiciently supported by the popes. Ludolfs son, 
Brun, called the founder of Brunswick, fell in battle with the 
Normans in 880. The other son was Otto the Illustrious, who 
yielded the throne of Germany to Conrad the Frank in 911. 
The family had vast possessions in Eastern Westphalia (now 
Brunswick), about the river Ocker; and in the rich and fa- 
mous " golden meadow " of the Helme and the Unstrutt ; 
besides extensive royal domains in Saxony. Henry, the son 
and heir of Otto the Illustrious, married Mathilde, of an 
equally noble Saxon house of Westphalia, also descended 
from Witikind. This Duke Henry, previously King Con- 
rad's most dangerous foe, but now designated by him as his 
successor, was elected King of the Germans at a general as- 
sembly of Saxons and Franks held at Fritzlar, on the frontier 
between the two tribes, in the spring of 919. The whole 
people heartily applauded the choice; for Henry was an ad- 
mirable man, and well approved in battle with the Sclaves. 
When the Archbishop of Mayence, at the coronation, offered 
to anoint him, according to the ancient custom in the empire 
of the Franks, he humbly declined the honor, pleading his 
own un worthiness. The ecclesiastical chroniclers do not clear- 
ly explain his motives ; but there can hardly be a doubt that 
he had resolved not to be, in any respect, dependent ujjon 
the Church, and wished in the most solemn manner to declare 



124 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

that priestly consecration was not the source of royal author- 
ity, nor essential to its exercise. 

§ 3. Henry's first task was to secure recognition from the 
people of Suabia, Bavaria, and Lorraine, who had no share in 
his election. But he was too familiar with the unmanagea- 
ble character of the Germans, and, when duke, had himself 
felt his own independence of the king too well, to imitate 
Conrad's violent manner of proceeding. For a time he con- 
tented himself with the actual power of a king among the 
Saxons and Thuringians, and the nominal sovereignty over 
the dukes of the other tribes, without interfering in the 
internal government of the latter. He respected the tribal 
peculiarities which had now become so conspicuous. Thus, 
in 920, Duke Burchard of Suabia voluntarily did homage 
to him as feudal lord. Henry reserved to himself the right 
to designate the bishops, and also the possession of the roy- 
al domains in Suabia. Bavaria was harder to win over. 
Arnulf, who had been driven by Conrad I. to take refuge 
with the Hungarians, jDersisted in refusing to recognize the 
royal dignity. Henry met him at Ratisbon (Regensburg), 
and prevailed upon him, not by arms, but in a friendly 
discussion, in which he convinced him that it was ruin to 
set up his own will against that of the whole people. Yet 
he left Arnulf even greater prerogatives than the Duke of 
Suabia, including the appointment of bishops in his terri- 
tory. Lorraine still held aloof. Its nobles were noted for 
fickleness and want of faith ; they had shifted their allegiance 
to and fro, between the Eastern and Western kingdoms, so 
as ultimately to obey neither. Their duke, Giselbert, was 
the very, embodiment of their fickleness. He had once, when 
a fugitive, been hospitably received by Henry in Saxony ; 
but now he adhered to the French king, Charles the Simple. 
Here, too, Henry avoided an appeal to arms. He waited 
until France fell into such disorders, under the anti-kings 
and Charles, that Giselbert grew weary of them, and, in 925, 
attached himself to Germany. Henry then bound him to his 
own family and kingdom by giving him his daughter Ger- 
berga to wife. Lorraine thus became finally incorporated 
in the German Em])ire, of which it continued for more than 
eight centuries to form a part (till 1766). 



Chap. VI. MILITARY REORGANIZATION. 125 

§ 4. Henry succeeded in this first great achievement by 
his wisdom and moderation ; and all the five great dukedoms 
were again united in the empire. It was fortunate for him 
and his people that the Hungarians had nearly suspended 
their inroads during his early years. But they now came 
upon the still weak emperor with renewed fury ; again they 
penetrated the heart of Saxony ; and Henry, who was very 
sick, was driven, in 924, to take refuge in his residence at 
Werla, beliind the swamps of the Ocker. But happily one 
of the princes of the enemy was made prisoner. The Hunga- 
rians were ready to pay a great ransom for him ; but Henry 
demanded nothing for his release but an armistice of nine 
years for Saxony and Thuringia, during which he offered even 
to pay a tribute to the Hungarians, And now he began the 
second great work of his life : that of restoring his own peo- 
ple to their ancient military efficiency, especially the Saxons 
and Thuringians, and so protecting the exposed country. 
The old constitutions of Charlemagne, relating to the fron- 
tiers or marches, were renewed in the east. There were still 
but few cities in Germany, especially in the north ; the Ger- 
mans lived, like their ancestors, in their open farms, and even 
the royal and episcopal palaces were but feebly fortified. 
Henry established Availed fortresses in the eastern districts 
of Saxony and Thuringia. He manned these, by drafting 
every ninth man from the population settled in the marches, 
who had long been held bound to military service. The other 
eight ninths were required to cultivate their crops, and to 
deposit one third of their harvests in these fortresses. In 
case of a sudden inroad, the people could take refuge within 
the walls, and find provisions there. He also required the 
markets and public festivals to be held within these cities, in 
order to accustom the Germans to a more social life. This 
was the origin of Quedlinburg, Merseburg, and Meissen. But 
it was necessary, besides fortresses, to have also good soldiers. 
The Saxons had preserved, better than any other race, the 
old practice pf the universal levy of the freemen for military 
service; but they also retained their ancient preference for 
fighting on foot. Since infantry were no match for the mount- 
ed Hungarians, Henry practiced his followers in fighting on 
horseback, and is said for this purpose to have devised and 
instituted tourneys. 



126 HI8T0RY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

§ 5. After these preparations, he disciplined his troops in 
a war of conquest against the Wends, who dwelt east of the 
Elbe and the Saale. These included the Abodriti and Wilzi, 
the Redarii, the Havelli (on the river Havel), and the Dale- 
minzii, in what is now Meissen. All these tribes were still 
heathen ; some of them had hitherto been allies of the Hun- 
garians, and persistent enemies of the Saxons. War with 
them was regarded as a crusade. The Saxons, fighting under 
the banner of St. Michael, regarded themselves as the Lord's 
peojale, called to a war of extermination against his enemies. 
As early as 928, Henry conquered the Havelli, and, marching 
on the ice, took their fortified city of Brennabor (Branden- 
burg), surrounded with lakes. The Daleminzii, too, submit- 
ted to him, and Meissen was founded in their territory, on 
an eminence near the Elbe. In Bohemia, Wratislaw, the son 
of the Christian Ludmilla, had maintained his power by em- 
bracing heathenism, and allying himself with the Hungarians. 
He married Drahomira, a princess of the Havelli, who insti- 
tuted a massacre of the Christians. Ludmilla, with her son, 
afterward called St. Wenceslaus (Wenzel), fled to Henry ; and 
Wenceslaus, upon doing homage to Henry as emperor, was 
established by him in Wratislaw's place as Duke of Bohemia. 

After all this, in 929, the northern Sclavic tribes, the Wilzi, 
Abodriti, and Redarii, united in a revolt against German su- 
premacy, and laid waste the borders of Saxony, Henry sent 
his Saxon nobles to meet them, and defeated them with fright- 
ful slaughter at Lenzen. This battle put an end to the en- 
croachments of the Sclavic tribes, and finally secured the 
northeastern frontiers of Germany. It opened, indeed, the 
whole region between the Elbe and the Oder to the gradual 
occupation of German colonies. The joyful tidings of this 
complete victory came at a happy moment for Henry. He 
had asked the hand of a sister of Athelstan, king of the An- 
glo-Saxons, for his eldest son Otto. Athelstan felt highly 
honored by the request, and sent both his sisters to Henry 
at Cologne, that he and his son might choose between them. 
Editha, a princess whose character was as superior as her 
beauty, was chosen, and became Otto's wife. Henry was 
now justly regarded as the mightiest sovereign of the West- 
ern world. 



Chap.VI. victories OF HENRY I. 127 

§ 6. The victory at Lenzen gave Henry new confidence 
in his own strength. He now called to council the most em- 
inent of his Saxon nobles, and made an earnest appeal to 
them in behalf of the unity and dignity of the nation, con- 
trasting the triumphant policy of defiance, by which they 
had crushed the Sclavic tribes, with their shameful attitude 
as tributaries of the Hungarians. The country, he declared, 
was drained by the exactions of the barbarians, and noth- 
ing remained to buy their forbearance, unless he should plun- 
der the shrines of Christ for these unbelievers. Encouraged 
by their recent success, and confident in their king, they 
unanimously j^ledged him their aid in throwing off" the Hun- 
garian yoke, and he at once answered the annual demand 
for tribute with a defiance (a.d. 932). The Hungarians in 
large force invaded Thiiringia and advanced into Saxony; 
and gained some advantages over Henry, who, however, was 
continually strengthened by reinforcements, while the Hun- 
garians could not support their vast host in a body, but di- 
vided, a large army of them ravaging Thuringia. This force 
was destroyed by a German army, after an obstinate fight ; 
the rest of the Hungarians then marched southward to aid 
them, and were attacked and routed by the king himself 
The next spring, 933, the Hungarians returned in immense 
numbers, and at Riade, near Merseburg (the exact spot is 
unknown), fought one more desperate battle with Henry, who 
obtained such a complete victory that Germany was finally 
freed from danger of subjection to them. They afterward 
made several incursions into the German territories; but 
their strength was broken. 

Henry finally restored the ancient frontier of the empire 
on the north against the Danes ; and even added to its do- 
minions on that side the margraviate of Schleswig, which 
remained a part of the empire until Conrad II. ceded it to 
Canute in 1032. Under Henry's protection, Unni, the pious 
Archbishop of Bremen and Hamburg, and a worthy successor 
of St. Ansgar, preached Christianity to the Danes and Swedes ; 
and the Gospel found disciples there, though Gorm, the old 
King of Denmark, hated Christianity " like the serpent of 
old." 

§ 7. Henry accomplished a great work ; his calm, raoder- 



128 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

ate, and practical mind, of the genuine Saxon stamp, aiming 
only at what was attainable. The German Empire owes its 
foundation to him. He opened to German colonists the land 
east of the Elbe, from which the Germans who formerly pos- 
sessed it had been driven by the Sclavonic tribes. He re- 
vived German valor, and conquered the Magyars, the per- 
sistent enemies of the empire. And while he thus served 
the general welfare, he built up his throne for his own fam- 
ily. Yet all these achievements are not his chief title to 
German gratitude; but rather that, both by guarding civil 
order, and by his own influence and aid, he steadily strove 
to build up the industry and trade of the nation, and did 
much to elevate the standing of men engaged in these pur- 
suits. Upon experiencing a stroke of apoplexy, at his pal- 
ace of Bodfeld, in the Hartz region, he accepted it as a warn- 
ing of his speedy death ; and summoning to Erfurt the great 
noblemen of all German tribes, exacted from them a prom- 
ise to choose his son Otto for his successor. He then went 
to Memleben, on the Unstrutt, where he had a palace, and 
died, surrounded by his own family, and deeply lamented by 
all the people (a.d. 936). It is characteristic both of him 
and of his worthy queen, Matilda, that in his last farewell to 
her he expressed his earnest gratitude for the influence she 
had exei'ted over him in exciting his compassion for the op- 
pressed. He was buried in the abbey of Quedlinburg, which 
he had founded. 

§ 8. Otto, the son of Henry I., now twenty-four years of 
age, was chosen King of the Germans (a.d. 936-973) by the 
vote of all the tribes, assembled in the cathedral of Aix. 
This event shows how firmly the nation had been united by 
his father. The Archbishop of Mayence crowned him, and 
girded him with the royal sword ; all the people hailed him 
as their chosen monarch ; and the dukes of the several tribes 
did him the same personal services, at table and in the court, 
as cup-bearers, stewards, marshals, and chamberlains, which 
great feudal lords received from their vassals. Otto I. took 
a view of his kingly oftice very diflTerent from that of his fa- 
ther, Charlemagne was his model. Henry had treated the 
great dukes almost as independent princes, but Otto regard- 
ed them as his ofiicers and vassals, and assumed the power 



Chap. VI. OTTO I. GUARDS THE FRONTIERS. 



129 




Otto the Great (93C-973). 



to depose them if they failed in their duty to him or to the 
empire. But his first task was to protect the frontiers. 
The Wends took the opportunity of the change in the gov- 
ernment to revolt. But Otto kept them in subjection, with 
the efficient aid of Hermann Billing. Count of the Northern 
March of Saxony, who extended the German domains farther 
and farther in this direction. The Bohemians, too, rebelled ; 
and while Otto was engaged in the internal alFairs of the 
empire, they succeeded in maintaining their independence for 
nearly twelve years. The Hungarians made a few incursions, 
but soon perceived that Otto was not inferior in strength 
and resolution to his father, and became quiet again. 

K 



130 HlfeTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

§ 9. The internal condition of the emjjire was less satis- 
factory than its outward serenity. The Franks were dis- 
pleased that Otto assumed such high prerogatives, and that 
the proud Saxons were jjreferred to them. At their head 
was still Duke Eberhard, Conrad's brother, who had brought 
the crown to Henry I. Otto refused to confirm to him the 
rich fiefs which his father, Henry, had granted him. While 
uneasiness was growing in this quarter, in 938 the Duke of 
the Bavarians, also called Eberhard, openly revolted. Otto 
marched against him, gained a victory, and at once deposed 
him and deprived the dukedom of Bavaria of all the prerog- 
atives which Henry I. had left it. Meanwhile the threaten- 
ed conspiracy in North Germany was fully matured. Thank- 
mar, an elder half-brother of Otto by Henry's first marriage, 
which had been dissolved by the Church because his wife 
had previously taken the vows of a religious life, was dissat- 
isfied with his inferior position, and he made common cause 
with Eberhard. The two together devastated Westphalia ; 
and Eberhard made a prisoner of Henry, Otto's youngei' 
brother. The emperor hastened thither, and Thankmar shut 
himself up in Eresburg. The fortress was taken by storm, 
and Thankmar fell, fighting Otto's men bravely to the last, 
at the altar in the church. Eberhard was forgiven, upon 
surrendering young Henry, his prisoner, who interceded for 
him. 

§ 10. But the influence of Eberhard awakened in Henry 
distrust toward his brother. Otto was indeed an elder son 
of Henry I. ; but he was born while his father was still duke, 
Henry after he had become king. Henry was also the fa- 
vorite of his mother, Matilda; and the ambitious youth 
thought it just that he should succeed his father. He nego- 
tiated with his fickle brother-in-law, Duke Giselbert of Lor- 
raine ; and his first step toward revolt was to join him, in 
939, But before the insurrection spread farther, Otto cross- 
ed the Rhine with a small force, and defeated Henry and 
Giselbert at Birthen ; so that they had no resource but to 
appeal to Louis IV. (Ultramarinus) of France for aid, and he 
was able to do Otto little harm. Henry then pretended to 
seek a reconciliation, through the intercession of his mother, 
Matilda, but only made use of it to stir up the Saxon nobles 



Chap. VI. THE KING AND THE DUKES. 131 

to rebellion. Saxony, indeed, remained faithful; but Fred- 
erick, Archbishop of May ence, joined the revolt; and thus two 
of his great duchies, and the chief clergy, always the main 
support of the throne, were united against Otto. But once 
more fortune was on his side. Three princes, Franks by 
birth and kinsmen of Eberhard, but still Otto's friends, sur- 
prised Eberhard and Giselbert on the bank of the Rhine, 
which they had crossed, negligently leaving their army on 
the other side at Andernach. Eberhard was slain, and Gisel- 
bert, in his flight, was drowned in the Rhine (939). This 
ended the war. Young Henry again asked and received par- 
don. Yet he ojice more conspired against his brother, and 
this time against his life. For the third time his mother in- 
terceded for him ; a third time Otto magnanimously forgave 
him, and thenceforth Henry was truly penitent, and lived in 
faithful brotherly affection toward Otto. 

These victories left the ducal power in the empire at the 
feet of the sovereign. The dukes were once more officers de- 
pendent on the emperor. Otto now took care that the office 
of count palatine (pfalz-graf) should be instituted, besides that 
of duke, in every duchy, to rule the royal domains and to 
preside in the emperor's name on the judgment -seat ; and 
these counts watched the dukes and kept them Avithin bounds. 
Otto also endeavored to make the dukedoms still more de- 
pendent on him, by conferring them only upon his kindred 
and connections. He married his eldest son, Ludolf, to the 
daughter of the Suabian duke, and the youth soon succeeded 
to the office. He bestowed Lrorraine on Conrad, a Frank, 
giving him his daughter to wife ; and Bavaria on his broth- 
er Heni'y. The Franks, Saxons, and Thuringians were gov- 
erned by himself in person ; though in the latter part of his 
life he made his faithful friend, Hermann Billing, Duke of 
Saxony. 

§ 11. Thus the great empire was firmly united, and was 
still more compact than in the time of Henry I. It was now 
that the name German (Deutsch) began to be commonly ap- 
plied, not only to the language, but as a collective name to 
the people. And the united nation wielded its strength ef- 
ficiently against the outer world. Under Hermann Billing 
and the Margrave Gero, the Saxons, after long struggles, im- 



132 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

posed Christianity and German manners npon the Wends. 
The extensive region between tlie Elbe and the Oder was 
colonized. Otto imitated Charlemagne, in establishing epis- 
copal sees among the subjugated people. Thus he founded 
bishoprics at Oldenburg (in Eastern Holstein), Havelberg, 
Brandenburg, Merseburg, Meissen, and Zeitz; and even at 
Posen, among the Poles in the remote east. All these sees 
he united, before he died, under the archbishopric of Magde- 
burg. Christianity was also extended northward from Bre- 
men by Germans. Archbishop Adeldag, the great successor 
of Unni, pi'osecuted missions among the Swedes and Danes, 
Harold Bluetooth had led his Danes beyond their bound- 
aries ; and Otto humbled them, driving them to the extreme 
northern point of Jutland, whence he threw his spear into 
the sea beyond, in token that only there was the limit of his 
sovereignty. With almost royal power. Otto's brother Hen- 
ry, now Duke of Bavaria, extended his sway eastward to 
Theiss, and southward to Istria and Friaul ; and thus the 
Bavarians began to colonize the south, as the Saxons did 
the north. Among their colonies, the bishoprics of Regens- 
burg and Passau actively carried on the mission work. This 
was the period in which the real jDOwer of the Germans was 
extended most rapidly. Otto, who now began to be called 
"the Great," already had some influence in the distracted 
affairs of France, whose king, Louis IV., had married Gisel- 
bert's widow, and thus become Otto's brother-in-law ; and 
at one time Otto marched to the very gates of Paris, to aid 
him against his rebellious nobles. The King of Burgundy, 
and the nobles who were fighting for supremacy in Italy, 
already appealed to him as arbiter. In short, his power was 
now that of an emperor, though he had not yet assumed the 
title. 

§ 12. It w^ould be interesting, at this supreme point of the 
German royal authority, to picture to ourselves the life of 
&uch a sovereign in the olden time. It was not one of ease 
and comfort; whom the heavy crown adorned, it made rest- 
less to the grave. He had no fixed home ; but kept march- 
ing through the broad empire from palace to palace. Wher- 
ever he was, he must in person sit in judgment on diflicult 
or doubtful questions ; controversies of smaller imjjortance 



Chap. VI. ROYALTY IN THE TENTH CENTURY. 133 

being still decided, according to the capitularies of Charle- 
magne, or the old tribal laws, by elected judges. In dark 
matters, the judgment of God was appealed to ; that is, the 
duel, or the test by fire, or b}^ the cross. At festivals, the 
monarch was surrounded by the splendor of the whole em- 
pire. Princes and nobles from far and wide hastened to the 
episcopal see at which the festival was held, bringing volun- 
tary gifts, while the subjugated oifered their tribute. The 
royal domains lay scattered, in vast estates, through all parts 
of the empire. Immense forests, also, the property of the 
monarch, covered a great part of the land ; and in them the 
wolf, the bear, the aurochs, the elk, and the wild-boar aiford- 
ed the huntsiuan rich sport. There was still no system of 
taxation, for money was cxtremel}^ scarce, and the Germans 
regarded every impost as a badge of servitude. All services 
to the government were rendered in person. Yet the king 
received certain revenues from roads and rivers; the Jews 
paid a capitation tax ; and the mines were his property. 
The feudal system already prevailed throughout the em- 
pire; and the king's forces therefore consisted mainly of his 
feudal vassals and their followers rather than of the ancient 
levy of freemen. On the frontiers, the marches were reor- 
ganized under their counts or margraves. On the left bank 
of the Elbe lay the Saxon Northmark (now Altmark, in Prus- 
sia) ; south of it, between the Saale, the Elbe, and the Mulde, 
the Saxon Eastmark, or the North Thuringian mark; on the 
Upper Saale, extending to the Fichtel-Gebirge and the Saxon 
Erz-Gebirge, the Osterland, or the South Thuringian mark. 
The mark of Meissen adjoined these on the east. In the 
south, there was a Bavarian Eastmark, aftei'ward Austria ; 
a Styrian and a Carinthian mark ; all of these being depend- 
ent on the duchy of Bavaria. 

§ 13. Thus Otto the Great had made himself the mightiest 
monarch in Europe, when new difficulties and conflicts came 
upon him. The German kings, since Arnulf 's time (899), ha^l 
paid no regard to Italy. Here great families were struggling 
for the supremacy, some of them still claiming kindred with 
the Carlovingians. Even the popes were deeply involved in 
these distractions, and, from the lofty position which they 
had once gained, had sunk into insignificance again. The 



134 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

morals of the clergy, as of the whole people, were frightfully- 
depraved. At this time, the most powerful man in Italy was 
Berengarius of Ivrea, he having put down his former rival, 
Hugo, who had called himself King of Italy, Berengarius 
was probably guilty of poisoning Hugo's son, Lothaire ; and 
desired to obtain for his own son the hand of Adelheid, Lo- 
thaire's widow, in order to unite all claims to the crown of 
Italy, But Adelheid rejected the proposal with horror, and 
was closely confined by Berengarius in a castle on the Garda 
Lake, From this place she succeeded in sending messengers 
to King Otto, invoking him to protect her rights in Italy, 
Otto had lost by death his Anglo-Saxon wife, Editha, and 
was then a widower; and he determined to take Adelheid to 
wife, and so secure some claim, if a doubtful one, to Italy. 
He therefore undertook an expedition to help her. Before 
he crossed the Alps with his army, in 951, his young son Lu- 
dolf, Duke of Suabia, in his zeal hastened before him, and 
fought an unsuccessful battle with Berengarius. This enter- 
prise brought him reproaches from his father and scoffs from 
his uncle, Henry of Bavaria, Henry had already conducted 
Adelheid, Avho after many adventures had escaped from her 
confinement, to his brother Otto at Canossa, and was now held 
in high favor by them both. Otto soon celebrated his mar- 
riage with Adelheid in great splendor, and assumed the title 
of King of Italy. 

§ 14, But there was a dark shadow amid all this brightness, 
Ludolf, who had already been designated as his father's suc- 
cessor, could not but fear lest a son of the favored Adelheid 
would yet arise to exclude him from the throne. Nor had 
King Otto fully attained the goal of his wishes in Italy; for 
he already aspired to coronation by the pope as Cajsar. His 
failure to obtain this honor was due, as he supposed, to the 
bad offices of Archbishop Frederick of Mayence with the pope, 
and his suspicions in turn awakened the discontent of that 
prelate. Otto returned to Clermany, leaving behind him his 
son-in-law, Conrad, Duke of Lorraine, who induced Berenga- 
rius to submit to the king, by assuring him of an honorable 
reception. But when he presented himself before Otto, in 952, 
at Magdeburg, he was treated with contemptuous severity ; 
and thus Conrad, too, was offended, his pledged word being 



Chap. VI. SUCCESSES OF OTTO THE GREAT. 135 

disregarded, and his merit, as he thought, in other respects 
slighted. Thus tliere were now three powerful malcontents 
in the kingdom, Frederick of Mayence, Ludolf of Saxony, and 
Conrad of Lorraine; the last two the nearest kindred of the 
king. They did not regard their insurrection as rebellion 
against their father, but as the means of setting aside the ex- 
cessive influence of the severe and intriguing Henry of Bava- 
ria. Afterward, while the war was raging, the sons, once 
more penitent, threw themselves at their father's feet, but 
Henry made reconciliation impossible. Thus the wretched 
war continued ; and Otto outlawed the two dukes at Fritz- 
lar, in 952, and deposed them. At last Conrad, deserted by 
his own subjects in Lori'aine, sought and obtained the king's 
pardon, as did Frederick of Mayence; and then Ludolf, too, 
submitted to his father. But neither he nor Conrad, though 
forgiven, obtained his dukedom again. Lorraine was thence- 
forth governed by Bishop Brun of Cologne, Otto's brother ; 
and was then first divided into the two provinces of LTpper 
and Lower Lorraine. 

§ 15. The Hungarians took advantage of these dissensions 
to renew their incursions, at least into Southern Germany. 
In 955 they invaded the kingdom, no longer in predatory 
and scattered bands, such as they had hitherto formed since 
Henry defeated them at Merseburg, but in a great organized 
armj^, making a last great effort to conquer Germany. They 
laid such vigorous siege to Augsburg that the pious Bishop 
Adalrich was scarcely able to defend it. But Otto hastened 
thither at the head of the now reunited tribes. A great bat- 
tle was fought on the Lech, near Augsburg (August 10, 955). 
The king and his army consecrated themselves for the battle, 
as if it had been a crusade, by the holy supper and by pray- 
er; and Otto vowed to found an episcopal see at Merseburg 
if God would give him the victory. The fight was begun 
by three lines of Bavarians in the van, though their duke was 
sick and could not lead them. Then came a line of Franks 
under Conrad ; then a fifth line, formed of select youth, the 
strength of the army, and led by the king himself, under the 
banner of the archangel Michael; then ten lines of Suabians, 
and finally a rear-guard of Bohemians. The Hungarians 
avoided the charge of the Germans ; some of them swam 



136 HISTORY OF GEKMANY. Book II. 

twice across the Lech, surprised the Bohemian rear-guard, 
and threw it and the Suabians into confusion. But when 
they met with Conrad's heroic resistance, they were repulsed, 
he being eager to atone for his revolt. The king in person 
led the attack upon the main body of the Hungarians. After 
fierce fighting, he gained a complete victory. The Germans 
drove most of the Hungarian army into the river, and put 
the rest of them to flight. This victory, so famous in German 
legend and tradition, seems to have had a still greater influ- 
ence on the fate of the Hungarians than on that of their con- 
querors. They gradually gave up their nomadic life and 
their fierce, barbaric manners, settled themselves in fixed 
homes, and thenceforth began to yield to German influence 
and to Christianity. But the victory was dearly bought. 
Among the dead lay Conrad, slain by an arrow in the throat 
while raising his helmet ; and many a nobleman shared his 
fate. Other bereavements soon fell on Otto ; his' brother 
Henry of Bavaria, his strongest and most faithful helper, 
died of his sickness, and soon after his son Ludolf, still in the 
very flower of life, after having atoned for his rebellion by 
valiant fighting against the Wends and in Italy. The king- 
comforted himself in a son of his second marriage, to Avhom 
he gave his own name. Otto. 

§ 16. This victory over the Hungarians more than restored 
Otto to his former height of power and dignity. Pope John 
Xn. soon after invited him to Rome, in order to obtain his 
protection against Berengarius. Otto came and rescued him 
from his danger, receiving as his reward the imperial crown, 
which was conferred by the pope upon him and his queen 
Adelheid, February 2, 962. From this time the crown of the 
Caesars, and with it the supreme secular authority in the Chris- 
tian world, were regarcled as belonging to the kings of the 
Germans, each of whom was bound, for his honor and by the 
very fact of his election, to go to Rome and receive his crown 
from the pope. This custom certainly brought to the German 
nation honor and splendor; yet the struggle to rule over 
Rome and Italy with the imperial authority constantly led 
the German monarchs into useless wars at a distance from 
home. Worst of all, the natural course of conquest and of 
missionary work, toward the north and east, was abandoned 



Chap. VI. THE GERMAN EMPIRE IN ITALY. 137 

to grasp at this magnificent symbol of honor. But while 
German patriotism laments so much blood spilt and eflbrt 
spent in vain ; while it laments a protracted sti'uggle which 
led to no end, or rather led at last to the overthrow of the 
empire and the partition of Germany ; yet it can not be de- 
nied that in government, in trade, in the fine arts, and in sci- 
ence, the close and long-continued intercourse between Ger- 
many and Italy, which began at this time, was of great ad- 
vantage to both. Even Otto the Great could not maintain 
his authority in Italy without repeated exjieditions to Rome. 
He had scarcely turned his back when John XII., who had 
found a master where he sought a protector, went over to 
Berengarius, and even sent to the heathen Magyars an invi- 
tation to invade Germany. Otto went back to Rome, and 
called a synod in St. Peter's to try the pope. Otto himself 
presided, and the most frightful accusations of profligacy, 
cruelty, and blasphemy were brought against John, under 
oath, by the clergy and the people. Otto deposed him, estab- 
lished Leo VIII. in the papal chair, and compelled the Romans 
to take an oath never to ordain a pope without the emperor's 
ratification (963) ; but immediately upon bis departure new 
disturbances broke out, so that Otto was detained three years 
away from Germany, until his adversaries, John XII. and 
Berengarius, Avere both dead ; and the Romans submitted. 
Yet one more expedition to Rome was necessary in 966, for 
the relief of Pope John XIII,, whom the rebellious Romans 
liad grossly maltreated and imprisoned. On this occasion 
the king caused his son Otto, then a child of six years, to be 
anointed and crowned as emperor by the pope, in order that 
tiie claims of his house to the throne might have the sanction 
of the Church. 

§ 17. Otto's fame, like that of Charlemagne, extended to 
the most remote sovereigns. His embassies reached the mag- 
nificent, mild, and enlightened Caliph Abderrhaman in Cor- 
dova, and the slothful, proud, and beggarly court of Constan- 
tinople, which has been described to us with bitter mockery 
by Liutprand of Cremona, a prominent contemporary chron- 
icler. Yet Otto the Great thought that no alliance could be 
higher for his growing son than that with a daughter of the 
Greek emperor, and in 972 he married liim to the Princess 



138 HISTOKY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

Theophano, under whose powerful influence Eastern manneis 
and luxury were introduced at the German court. He then 
held his last magnificent imperial Diet at Quedlinburg, in 
Saxony. He could look proudly upon his life's work, his im- 
perial power. Hither came with tribute embassadors of the 
King of the Danes. Here the Duke of Bohemia, the archbish- 
op of the newly founded diocese of Prague, and the Duke of 
Poland rendered him homage ; and even the Hungarians sent 
their gifts. The broad lands of the Sclavonic tribes, almost 
to the Vistula, Avere subject to the Germans and to Chris- 
tianity. The German nobles no longer disputed the suprem- 
acy of Otto. His wise and brilliant queen, Adelheid, was 
seated by his side ; also his son Otto II., with his young wife, 
already crowned emperor and empress. Ai'ound them were 
princes and noblemen in multitudes. But the death of 
his faithful friend, Hermann Billing, occurred just at this 
time, warning the emperor of the perishableness of all things 
earthly, and of his own approaching death. He visited Mag- 
deburg, Merseburg, and finally Memleben, where his father 
died. Here Otto also ended his eventful life, and was buried 
at Merseburg. He was, in many respects, the most brilliant 
and powerful of the German emperors ; yet he was far from 
equal to his father in moderation and repose, and his influence 
tended to divert Germany from its own internal and national 
developiuent. His personal character commanded esteem, 
and in humanity, even toward enemies, he was in advance 
of his times. He has been blamed for his excessive pride, and 
especially for his policy of promoting slavery, and strength- 
ening the oppressive power of the nobles over the lower or- 
ders of the people ; but these things only show that he had 
not attained ideas and principles which belong to a later era 
in political progress. He, his son, and his grandsons, called 
the Ottos, are associated in the recollection of the Germans 
with a period of glory, and of a learned culture which then 
for the first time reached the nation. This culture was in- 
deed an exotic growth, of Latin and Greek origin, and a 
stranger in German soil, yet it left there many a new and 
productive seed. 

§ 18. Otto II., son of Otto the Great, now eighteen years 
of age, had already been elected and crowned ; and was at 



Chap. VI. OTTO II. AND HENRY OF BAVARIA. 



139 




Otto II. (973-9S3). 

once accepted by the nation without opposition almost as an 
hereditary king (OYS-OSS). He undertook at once the usual 
royal progress through the realm. Well educated, but frail 
in person, he did not lack impetuous vigor;, but his passionate 
nature was wavering, and had not the magnificent persist- 
ency of his ancestors. His mother, Adelheid, and afterward 
his wife, Theophano, exercised a great influence over him. 
Otto H. had his own conflicts to fight out for his throne. His 
cousin, Henry II. of Bavaria, called the Contentious, finding 
his lofty claims slighted by the young emperor, rebelled, 
hoping to succeed by an alliance with the Eastern Sclaves, 
the Bohemians, and Poles. Otto defeated and deposed him, 



140 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

gave Bavaria to his friend Ludolf s son, Otto of Suabia, and 
cut off from Bavaria the Eastmark, granting it in fee to the 
famous ancient family of the Babenbergs. This territory be- 
came the germ of Austria. But Henry the Contentious stir- 
red uj) new disorders in the southeastern part of the empire, 
until the emperor subdued him once more, and placed him 
in permanent confinement. Otto II. also demonstrated his 
strength to the Bohemians and the Poles. As early as the 
year 974 he made an expedition against the Danes. In 976, 
Lothaire II. of France, longing to Avin Lorraine again, fell 
suddenly upon the emperor, who was quietly reposing at Aix. 
Otto narrowly escaped capture, in his flight leaving liis din- 
ner for Lothaire's followers to eat. Lothaire laid waste the 
country, and after three days retreated toward France; but 
was overtaken by a herald of Otto before reaching the front- 
ier, and notified that the emperor would answer this secret 
and dastardly attack by open war. Otto accordingly, with 
sixty thousand Germans, marched victoriously to the gates 
of Paris (October, 978). Unable to capture this strong city, 
he determined at least to terrify the Parisians and their 
king, and to warn them that he would visit them again, by 
letting them hear a tremendous Te Deuni from the heights 
of Moutmartre. As winter drew near. Otto retired to Ger- 
many ; but the French were deeply impressed with his power, 
and in 980 a treaty of peace was concluded, by which Lo- 
thaire, under oath, renounced all claims to Lorraine in behalf 
of France forever. In this year, 980, when his son and heir. 
Otto III., was born, the emperor had assured his own title to 
the whole realm ruled by his father. 

§ 19. But now he turned toward Italy. Otto the Great 
had attached to the empire all of Italy as far as Rome ; but 
in that city the ancient family feuds still j^revailed, and the 
papacy was deeply involved in them. Terrible deeds were 
wrought here, and one pope, Benedict IV., was assassinated. 
Southern Italy was exposed to the attacks of the bold and 
aggressive Arabs, as well as of the Greeks, who would not 
acknowledge the German ^ujjremacy in that region. After 
a short stay in Rome, where he quickly established order, 
Otto marched into Southern Italy, in 981, to meet these ene- 
mies, and easilv defeated and scattered the Greek forces. His 



Chap. VI. DEATH OF OTTO II. 141 

army were inspired with the zeal of crusaders, when he fell 
the next year upon the Saracens in Calabria, south of Cotrone; 
and he gained a victory, but an imprudent pursuit turned it 
into a defeat ; while reinforcements reached the Saracens, and 
nearly destroyed the German array. The emperor only es- 
caped capture by leaping into the sea, and swimming to a 
Greek ship that was sailing by. But this ship was an enemy, 
too, and Otto was recognized. By large promises he induced 
the Greek captain to approach the shore, and then the em- 
peror and his attendants again leaped into the sea, and finally 
escaped. The news of this defeat spread far and wide, to the 
extreme northern frontiers of the empire ; and the Sclavonic 
tribes now took courage, and rose in a general revolt (983), 
to overthrow at once Christianity, and the German sover- 
eignty over them, which was often exercised with cruelty. 
They rebelled in a body, and the Danes joined them. But 
the misfortunes of their chosen king excited the deepest sym- 
pathy among the Germans, and a large army was rapidly 
collected and sent into Italy to his support. Otto first at- 
tempted to regain his lost authority in Lower Italy, and sum- 
moned all the nobles to Verona on a fixed day. Here, as if 
conscious that his end was near, he caused them to choose 
his son, only three years of age, for his successor; and then 
marched southward. But he went no farther than Rome, 
where death overtook him, December 7, 983, in his twenty- 
eighth year. He was buried in Rome ; the only German em- 
peror, or " rex Romanorum," who died or Avas buried in that 
imperial capital. The empire of Otto the Great, which his 
son had only kept together by hard struggles, was already 
beginning to lose its compactness. 

§ 20. The German princes were assembled at Aix, where 
they had just crowned the child Otto HI., when the news 
of the emperor's death came. At the same time, the Bishop 
of Utrecht, to whose custody Henry the Quarrelsome had 
been given, released him. A dispute arose among the nobles, 
whether he, as the male nearest of kin to the young emperor, 
should have the regency, according to the ancient German 
law ; or whethei*, according to the law of the Eastern Em- 
pire, it should be given to the empress dowager, Theophano, 
who had accompanied her husband to Italy. Meanwhile 



142 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book II. 




Otto III. (9S3-100.'). 

Henry took possession of the child's person ; and soon made 
it only too evident that he was aiming to secure the throne 
for himself The Saxons and Bavarians, on whom he chiefly 
relied, abandoned him ; while the pious and learned Willigis 
of Mayence kept the adherents of the young emperor faithful 
to him, and sustained the endangered unity of the empire. 
Henry soon found it necessary to give up the boy to his 
mother, Theophano, on her return from Italy, and to his 
grandmother, Adelheid ; and only to ask in return his duke- 
dom of Bavaria. After receiving this again, somewhat re- 
duced in extent, he, like his father, remained faithful to the 
royal house until his death. 

§ 21. Theophano, during her son's minority, conducted the 
government as regent with wisdom and skill, although, as a 
Greek, she was exposed to much jealousy among the Ger- 



Chap. VI. OTTO III. AND THE POPES. 143 

mans. But the nobility again assumed a greater independ- 
ence of the crown, and the several tribes began again to 
choose their own dukes. Thus the Bavarians, at the death 
of Henry the Quarrelsome, elected his son Henry to succeed 
him. In other countries, as in Suabia, the duchy became he- 
reditary for the first time. Tlieophano died in 991 ; and 
thereafter the great princes of the empire — those of Saxony, 
Suabia, Bavaria, Meissen, and Tuscany — assumed the conduct 
of the government, in the name of Adelheid, the young em- 
perolr's grandmother, as regent ; and thus the ducal author- 
ity again grew to great national importance. Meanwhile 
young Otto, under the instruction of Theophano, Adelheid, 
and the learned Gerbert of Rheims, became a wonder of the 
age in culture and learning. But liis culture was foreign-^ 
that of Rome and Constantinople ; and he despised as rude 
the Saxons, on whose strong shoulders his sovereignty rested. 
He longed for Italy and Rome ; and it was his highest am- 
bition to establish an empire upon the model of the East. 

§ 22. In 996, when only sixteen years of age, Otto, at the 
invitation of Pope John XV., made his first expedition to 
Italy, where all things had been well managed during his 
childhood ; and, on the death of John, placed his cousin, 
young Bruno, on the papal throne, as Gregory V., receiving 
from him the croAvn of the Ctesars. In making this appoint- 
ment, he entertained, no doubt, sincere hopes of establishing 
a severer morality in the Church, as well as of uniting the 
supreme power in both Church and State in his own family. 
Both emperor and pope were very young, and were enthu- 
siastic for a reformation of the Church, which, indeed, seemed 
to have become a necessity in that degenerate time. On his 
return to Germany, Otto found the Wends still in revolt, and 
fought against them, with no decisive result. He soon re- 
turned to Italy, where he found Rome, under Crescentius, in 
insurrection against him and the pope. He punished the 
rebels with cruel severity : Crescentius was executed, and 
the antipope, John XVL, whom he had set up, barbarously 
mutilated. Upon the sudden death of Gregory V., who was 
probably poisoned by the Romans to avenge Crescentius, 
Otto made his instructor, Gerbert, pope, under the name of 
Sylvester II. But he was himself wavering more and more 



144 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

as time went on, between lofty projects for crusades, and for 
the conquest of the Byzantine Empire, on one hand, and pen- 
itent exercise and a hermit's contemplations on the other. 
The approach of the millennial year, a.d. 1000, which had 
been fixed by popular pi'ophets and fanatics as the time when 
Christ should come to judgment, powerfully atfected his mind, 
as it did that of the whole Church, in which there was great 
and general religious agitation. He made a pilgrimage to 
Gnesen, to the grave of St. Adelbert of Prague, who had 
fallen a martyr while preaching the Gospel among the wild 
Prussians. He then proceeded again to Aix ; and, with a 
misplaced curiosity, opened the tomb of Charlemagne. A 
restless, fanciful spirit drove him, without repose, from one 
change to another. Finally, in 1001, he returned to Italy, 
and, under the influence of Pope Sylvester, resolved to make 
Rome once more the capital of the great empire of Christen- 
dom, whence Germany should be ruled as a remote province. 
But he could not even control the city. An insurrection 
broke out ; Otto was besieged on the Aventine for three days, 
and then escaped into the Carapagna. Meanwhile a power- 
ful conspiracy of German nobles was formed by Archbishop 
Willigis to dethrone the emperor. But Otto suddenly died, 
in sight of Rome, a.d. 1002, not yet twenty-two years old. 
According to legend, Stephania, the marvelously beautiful 
widow of Crescentius, fascinated him by her charms, and 
then poisoned him in revenge for her husband. The bishops 
and priests who had accompanied him to Rome were com- 
pelled to cut a way through rebellious Italy for his body 
with their swords; and, as he had directed, they buried him 
beside Charlemagne in Aix. 

Had Otto III. lived longer, he would perhaps have made 
a magnificent eflbrt to fulfill his scheme of the universal Chris- 
tian empire. No other ruler of Germany was ever so fully 
inspired with this grand conception of a world-wide State 
and Church, with its twofold seat of power in the Eternal City. 
The whole fabric of the mediaeval empire rested on the con- 
viction in the popular mind that the successors of Constan- 
tine Avere divinely appointed to the secular rule of Christen- 
dom, side by side with the s]nritual rule of the successors of 
St. Peter. Otto III. fully shared this conviction, and as the 



Chap. VI. ECKART OF MEISSEN SLAIN. I45 

anointed of the pope, the elect of the Germans, and the heir, 
through his mother, Theophano, of the Byzantine throne, he 
was fully persuaded of his own right and duty to make of 
this idea a fact. Yet while he cherished his splendid dream 
at Rome, Germany, the real strength of his throne, was nearly 
lost to him. The nations on the frontiers of his kingdom, 
which had acknowledged his fathers as lords, were rapidly 
securing their independence. Hungary now embraced Chris- 
tianity, under St, Stephen, and formed a more fixed and bet- 
ter ordered political organization. Otto III. himself aided 
the Poles to form an independent kingdom, by elevating Gne- 
sen to be an independent archbishopric ; for here, too, eccle- 
siastical and political relations were closely interwoven. Den- 
mark also now embraced Christianity, and defined its own 
boundaries more closely. The Germans had ruled all these 
nations, by virtue of the superior organization of their state, 
but now this superiority seemed to be transferred to their 
neighbors. And had Otto III, lived to matui-e his plans, he 
would probably have lost far more in Germany than that he 
could, even for a short time, have gained in Italy and Greece, 
§ 23, The empire now needed a mighty ruler, to save it 
from ruin. He must with a strong hand re-establish its un- 
settled order, instead of living, like the last Otto, in idle 
dreams. But Otto died without issue, and it seemed that 
the German crown was to become the apple of discord among 
the nobles. Three claimants appeared: first, Henry of Bava- 
ria (Saint Henry), son of Henry the Quarrelsome, and grand- 
son of King Henry I, During the life of Otto III., he had 
been persistently faithful to him, and now accompanied his 
corpse from the Alps to the Rhine. At the same time, he 
secured the possession of the crown-jewels. One of his com- 
petitors, the easy Hermann of Suabia, w^as now an old man, 
and not likely to trouble him seriously. But the other, 
Eckart of Meissen, was very dangerous. He was the most 
valiant prince of the empire, the unwearied protector of the 
East against the Sclaves. His hopes rested upon Saxon sup- 
port. But fortune deserted liim ; and vi^hile on a journey, he 
was attacked at Pohlde, in the Hartz region, and slain, as it 
was supposed, by agents of the sisters of Otto III,, and per- 
haps not without the consent of Henrv, Henry II. was now 

L 



146 



HISTORY OF GERMANY, 



Book II. 




Henry 11. (1002-1024). 

elected and crowned (1002-1024) by the great nobles of the 
Bavarians and Franks, and those of Upper Lorraine, and by 
his shrewd management and moderation he soon obtained 
acceptance throughout the empire. Yet the Saxons had long 
regarded themselves as the imperial tribe ; and their dissat- 
isfaction with a king from another tribe was only suppressed, 
not destroyed, 

§ 24, Henry II. was a thoughtful, active, severe master, who, 
like his ancestor, Henry I,, only aimed at what was attaina- 
ble; and thus built up again the German Empire and the 
throne of the Caesars. But he succeeded in this work only 
through hard fights and immense labor. His first business 
' was to re-establish and protect the authority of the crown on 



Chap. VI. BURGUNDY ADDED TO THE EMPIRE. 147 

all his frontiers. On the east, in the Sclavonic district, Boles- 
law, the powerful Duke of Poland, surnamed Chrabry, or the 
Glorious, arose in strength. He extended the sway of Poland 
as far as the golden gate of Kiew, and also strove to detach 
frCm Germany, Bohemia, Meissen, Lausitz, and, in fact, all 
the territory east of the Elbe. Henry II. waged three fierce 
wars against him, and finally compelled him to a peace (1018), 
by which Bohemia remained a province of the empire, while 
Boleslaw received Meissen in fee, as a vassal of the emperor. 
But in the north all the land beyond the Elbe was lost, for the 
Abodrites, Wagrii, and Wends, in what is now Mecklenburg 
and Holstein, threw off the German sovereignty, in a great in- 
surrection, and returned to heathenism. In the south, Arduin 
of Ivrea strove to make of Italy a separate kingdom, independ- 
ent of Germany. Henry II. marched three times across the 
Alps, The first time he obtained the crown of Lombard y, in 
Pavia, which was burned in an attempt at rebellion (IOO6) ; 
the second time, he obtained in Rome, for himself and his wife 
Cunigunda, the crown of the Caesars (1014); and the third 
time he succeeded in establishing his own imperial power in 
Northern Italy (1022). Arduin died in a convent. In the 
west Henry engaged in wars with his next neighbors in Flan- 
ders, and with rebels in Luxemburg ; but above all for the 
throne of Burgundy. The ruler of Burgundy was Rudolf 
HI., the emperor's uncle; but he was childless, and was not 
respected by his troublesome nobles. He named Henry II. 
his heir; so that there was a prospect of adding to the empii'e 
this important country, including most of Switzerland, with 
the valley of the Rhone almost to the sea. Rudolf, indeed, 
was ready to abdicate at once. But the Burgundian nobles 
would not acknowledge the succession, and their weak king 
himself began to waver. It required two campaigns to 
assure the inheritance of this crown to Henry, In the inte- 
rior of Germany, local insurrections occurred from time to 
time, and showed the defiant spirit of the great nobles to- 
ward the emperor, and the strength of which they were con- 
scious. It was no longer, as in Otto the Great's day, only the 
mighty dukes who ventured to disobey ; but counts and other 
feudal proprietors dared, sometimes in their own strength, to 
resist the weakened government of the empire. 



148 HISTOKY OF GERMANY. Book 11. 

§ 25. The Ottos had wished to make Italy the seat of then- 
empire ; and in this effort had sacrificed the foundations of 
their power. Henry II. turned back with all his affections to 
Germany. He could no longer wield over dukes, counts, and 
margraves the powers of Otto the Great, and could decide "no 
question of great moment without consulting them ; so that 
the meetings of the Diet under him were frequent. In France 
the great fiefs held of the crown by the nobles had long been 
regarded as hereditary, and the tendency to treat them as 
sucJi in Germany was now too strong for Henry to resist. 
Thus the noblemen steadily gained in independence. He 
however restrained their feuds, guarded with care the peace 
of the land, and occasionally interfered in behalf of the poor, 
whom they oppressed. Above all, he founded the strength 
of his sovereignty on the spiritual authorities in the empire; 
himself naming the archbishops, bishops, and abbots in Ger- 
many as well as in Italy, causing them to share the burdens 
of the empire, using their goods as his own, and always rely- 
ing on their aid. They thus formed for him and his success- 
ors a counterpoise to the secular princes, who were constantly 
growing more independent ; and the imperial throne was 
strong as long as it could command their support. This was 
the more easily secured, since Henry himself gave efiicient 
aid to the papal see. 

§ 26. Southern Italy was threatened, on one side, by the 
Saracens, on the other by the Byzantines, as it had been in 
the days of Otto II. The former twice besieged Salerno, but 
the city was delivered by forty Norman knights, on their 
way home from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The inhabitants 
of the country, in their gratitude, invited the countrymen of 
their preservers to come and settle in the fair South. Thus, 
in 1016, the first Normans entered Italy, and began to form 
settlements, and to fight against Saracens and Greeks. The 
Greeks, however, continuing to extend their possessions, 
Henry II., with a large army, came once more across the 
Alps (1020), with the pope's approval, and marched through 
the peninsula, almost to its extreme southern point. He was 
not able to expel his enemies entirely ; but he was able, on 
returning, to leave Central and Northern Italy in peace and 
good order, and closely united with his empire. And in Ger- 



Chap. VI. WORK OF THE SAXON EMPERORS. 149 

many he found, on his return, the same good order. The 
toilsome work of his life had been a success, and the empire 
was again made firm. The Church, too, through the empe- 
ror and other pious men, was awakened to a more serious 
purpose, especially in Lorraine and Burgundy. Henry II, 
was pious, and devoted to the Church ; but was by no means 
the weak, monkish man represented in the legends of the Ro- 
man saints, among whom he was afterward numbered. Death 
overtook the emperor, whose health had long been sinking, 
at Grona, near Gottingen, July 13, 1024. The Saxon impe- 
rial dynasty died out on Saxon ground, whence it had sprung. 
His corpse was deposited at Bamberg, where he had recently 
erected a powerful bishopric. 

§ 27. The imperial house of Saxony, which became extinct 
at the death of Henry II,, is memorable as the dynasty which 
welded together the German tribes, and thus laid the founda- 
tion of German national unity. It included two great mon- 
archs, Henry I., who created the German Empire, and Otto 
the Great, who rapidly raised it to the foremost rank among 
powers. Otto II. maintained its greatness with difficulty; 
under Otto III., the Child, it fell to pieces. Henry II. built 
up the imperial throne again, chiefly upon ecclesiastical foun- 
dations, so that it was still the first of all the Western mon- 
archies. But the dukes, who, under Otto the Great, Avere still 
but officers of the crown, and might be displaced at the^mon- 
arch's will, had now become hereditary rulers, who held in 
check the royal authority. The extensive subjugation and 
colonization of the Sclavonic territory in the East began in the 
time of the first two monarchs. But Otto I, turned the whole 
drift of imperial eftort toward Italy ; and the predominance 
of this policy continued under his son and grandson ; so that 
the conquests already made over the Wends were again for 
centuries neglected and abandoned. But in Germany there 
was at least established among the several tribes an impe- 
rial unity, and with it a consciousness of national life, that 
could never afterward be entirely lost. 




Conrad II. (1024-1039). 



CHAPTER VII. 



EMPERORS OF THE HOUSE OP FRANCONIA, A.D. 1024-1125, 

§ 1. Election of Conrad II. § 2. His Throne Established. § 3. He is 
Crowned at Rome. Defeat and Death of Ernest of Suabia. § 4. Conrad 
Strengthens the Lower Nobility. § 5. His Wars in Italy, and Death. § 6. 
Henry III., his Conquests and Successes. § 7. The Church during his 
Eeign. § 8. Rebellion in Germany. The Normans in Italy. § 9. Death 
of Henry III. § 10. Henry IV. §1]. Disorders during his Minority. 
§ 12. His Vigorous and Arbitrary Eiforts to Restore the Royal Power. 
§ 13. He Suppresses the Saxon Rebellion. § 14. Gregory VII. Attacks 
the Imperial Authority. § 15. War between the Pope and the Emperor. 
§ 16. Henry IV. does Penance at Canossa. § 17. Henry Renews the 
Struggle. His Success. § 18. The First Crusade. § It). The Sons of 



Chap. VII. ELECTION OF A KING. 151 

Henry IV. in Rebellion. § 20. His Last Days and Death. § 21. Henry 
V. Maintains the Struggle against the Pope. § 22. A New Insurrection. 
§ 23. The Concordat of Worms. § 24. End of the Franconian Dynasty. 

§ 1. Since the imperial house of Saxony became extinct by 
the death of Henry II., the choice of his successor belonged 
to the entire nation. This was so universally admitted that 
no one seems to have thought of usurping the throne. Strong 
and independent in their own possessions as were the great 
lords, none of them dared to defy the public opinion of the 
empire ; and by general consent, since there was no claimant 
of the blood of the late king, a peculiarly formal and delib- 
erate method of consulting the people was adopted. But 
" the people" at that time meant only freemen — men not held 
even to feudal service — and these were now comparatively 
few, except among the clergy and the nobility. " The Ger- 
man people," then, who assembled, September 4, a.d. 1024, at 
Kamba, on the Rhine, in full view of the hallowed plain 
between the Odenwald and the Donnersberg, consisted of, 
lirst, the clergy — archbishops, bishops, and abbots ; next, the 
dukes, counts, gentlemen, and freemen, all encamped, accord- 
ing to their tribes, on the open land, since no building could 
hold them. On the left bank were the men of Upper and 
Lower Lorraine ; on the right, the Saxons, Franks, Suabians, 
and Bavarians. Here were five tribes, or nations, each with 
its own national character, but in their consciousness already 
one great people, who could no longer live without a common 
sovereign. So much had been accomplished townid national 
unity by the Saxon dynasty within a century. The election 
was conducted by the great nobility, and the result was long 
doubtful. At length the choice lay between two Franks of 
the ducal house of the Conradini, both named Conrad. The 
elder had been especially prominent among the princes, since 
his marriage with Gisela, widow of Ernest I., Duke of Sua- 
bia. He now took his cousin aside, and agreed with him that 
both should cheerfully acquiesce in the result, whatever it 
niight be. Then the Archbishop of Mayence led the way in 
declaring for him as the elder. The princes followed ; and 
his competitor took an active part in preventing any disturb- 
ance or confusion, while the whole people confirmed the 
choice, shouting as he showed himself to them. The rejoic- 



152 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

ing throng then betook themselves on the same day to May- 
ence, where, in the cathedral, Conrad II. was anointed and 
crowned. 

Thus a new dynasty was seated on the throne of Germany 
— Franks, from the vine-clad banks of the Rhine and the 
fruitful plains of the Main: a resolute, fiery, hot-blooded 
race, very different from the cooler Saxons, but with endow- 
ments not less than theirs. The very tyjie of this character 
was found in the newly elected emperor. He came forth 
with a noble and imposing presence, which seemed to declare 
that the choice could not have fallen more worthily. 

§ 2. Fortune, which had favored the first Saxon emperors, 
smiled also upon the new dynasty. In its very first year, 
Boleslaw Chrabry, King of Poland, died ; and by the disputes 
of his sons, who even invited the Germans into their coun- 
try, his great kingdom fell to pieces as fast as it had been 
built up. Thus Poland gradually became again dependent 
on the emj)ire. Conrad II. formed a friendly alliance with 
Canute the Great, under whom the Danes had returned to 
the Christian faith, and who also governed Norway and En- 
gland. Conrad even voluntarily ceded to him the raargravi- 
ate of Schleswig, which Henry I. had formed as a protection 
to the empire on the north ; and again made the Eider the 
northern boundary of Germany, as Charlemagne had fixed it. 
What the empire lost here he hoped to restore to it glo- 
riously in another quarter. Rudolf of Burgundy was child- 
less, and near his end ; and his land was expected to fall to 
the empire, as had been agreed with Henry II. But Rudolf 
now pretended that he had granted the reversion of his king- 
dom to Henry personally, and not as king of the Germans. 
Ernest of Suabia, Conrad II.'s step-son, was the nearest of kin 
and heir to Rudolf, and he resisted Conrad's claim, entei-- 
ing into a secret agreement with several other pretenders to 
the inheritance, with the French Count Otto of Champagne, 
and even with King Robert of France. The younger Conrad, 
too, who was never entirely contented with the election of 
his cousin, joined Ernest, as did the Dukes of Upper and 
Lower Lorraine. The danger seemed to be great. Conrad 
moved up the left bank of the Rhine against the confeder- 
ates; but here he had the good fortune to welcome to his 



Chap.VII. revolt of ERNEST OF SUABIA. 153 

side his previous opponent, Gozelo, the bold and enterprising 
Duke of Lower Lorraine, whose presence with him terrified 
the allies, so that j^eace was restored almost without a strug- 
gle. At a Diet held in Augsburg, Ernest the Suabian sub- 
mitted, though with reluctance and ungraciously. 

§ 3, In the same year, 1026, the third of his reign, Conrad 
was able to make his first visit to Rome. The ambitious 
and potent Aribert, Archbishop of Milan, was hoping for a 
patriarchate which should be independent of Rome ; and, 
needing for this purpose the friendship of Conrad, received 
him with reverence, and escorted him through Italy, where 
he was every where acknowledged as sovereign, almost with- 
out opposition or murmuring. At Rome, March 26, 1027, 
Conrad received from Pope John XIX. the imperial crown. 
Here he also met Rudolf, King of Burgundy, who visited 
Italy expressly to attend his coronation, and Canute the 
Great of Denmark. He confirmed his friendly relations with 
both, and betrothed his son Henry to Canute's daughter Gun- 
hilde. But he did not succeed in subduing Southern Italy. 
Here, between the Greeks and the Saracens, the Normans 
had already seized upon land and fortresses; and Conrad 
confirmed these settlers in their possessions, in return for 
their recognition of him as feudal lord, not suspecting what 
a dangerous foe to the empire he was thus nourishing. He 
then returned home, when he was soon again busied with his 
relations to his step-son Ernest of Suabia. 

Conrad II., finding that Ernest, supported by Werner and 
others, was bent on reviving by force his claims to Bur- 
gundy, summoned a great Diet at L^lm. Ernest came to it, 
at the head of a strong force of vassals; but when he proposed 
to them to rebel against the emperor, they refused, assur- 
ing him of their fealty to him as their feudal lord, but de- 
claring themselves bound by a still higher fealty to the sover- 
eign of the empire. This result, the effect of Conrad's firm- 
ness and diplomatic skill, left Ernest helpless. He could only 
throw himself upon the emperor's mercy, and Conrad at once 
arrested him, and confined him in the fortress of Gibicheu- 
stein, near Halle (a.d. 1027). But within three years the 
intercession of his mother, Gisela, obtained once more the par- 
don of her son. The emperor desired to make a friend of 



154 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

him, and offered to restore Suabia to him, on condition that 
lie should betray his life-long friend, Werner of Kiburg, who 
was still in rebellion, and had found a hiding-place in the 
Black Forest. But Ernest preferred any fate to this breach 
of faith, and obstinately left the court, and joined Werner 
and his band in the Black Forest, where they lived by plun- 
der, and defied the ban of the empire. A desperate struggle 
followed, in which both Ernest and Werner were slain. But 
the people took sides, in their legends and songs, with the 
unfortunate youth who had fought for his inheritance against 
a severe step-father, and compared his fate with that of the 
equally unfortunate Ludolf, son of Otto the Great. In- 
deed, legend merged the two stories into one, and thus arose 
the song of Ernest of Suabia, which was long sung in the 
Middle Ages, and rej^resents the two friends as finally going 
to the East upon a crusade, and meeting with manifold ad- 
ventures. After the death of Rudolf III., in 1032, Conrad, 
at an assembly at Peterlingen, in Switzerland, in 1033, form- 
ally proclaimed the union of Burgundy with Germany. But 
since Burgundy was ruled almost exclusively by the great 
nobility, the sovereignty of the German emperors there was 
never much more than nominal. Besides, the country, from 
the Bernese Oberland to the Mediterranean, except that part 
of AUemannia which is now German Switzerland, was inhab- 
ited by a Romance people, too distinct in language, customs, 
and laws from the German empire ever really to form a part 
of it. Thus this accession of dominion had a splendid appear- 
ance, but brought little actual power. Yet Switzerland was 
thenceforth connected forever with the development of Ger- 
many, and for five hundred years remained a part of the em- 
pire, which thus seemed to have made one step toward ful- 
filling the idea of universal sovereignty. 

§ 4. Up to this time the vigorous monarch had been suc- 
cessful in every thing. He strove to make his power perma- 
nent. All the nobles already held their fiefs as hereditar}^ 
possessions. The Diet at Ulm had shown that the sovereign 
might find support against them in the minor vassals of the 
princes themselves. It was only by making these the zeal- 
ous friends of the empire that he could keep the growing poM- 
er of the great dukes and counts in check. It therefore be- 



Chap. VII. CONRAD II. CURBS THE PRINCES. 155 

came his policy to make the tenants of these nobles as inde- 
pendent as possible of their feudal lords, and with this in 
view he formally decreed that their fiefs should also be he- 
reditary and perpetual. This policy was, on the whole, suc- 
cessful : all offices and estates throughout the empire be- 
came hereditary. Conrad believed that the time had come 
when the analogy could be applied to the crown, and sought 
to establish the right of inheritance in it ; but in this he fail- 
ed. But he accomplished more by his efforts, as the great 
ducal houses died out, to bring their dignities into his OAvn 
family. Thus he gave Bavaria and Suabia to his son Henry. 
This was the first step toward doing away with the ducal 
power, so dangerous to the emperor. Besides, like Henry 
H., he found great strength in the bishops, whose nomination 
belonged exclusively to him ; and he was especially persist- 
ent in appointing his near kindred to the great spiritual offi- 
ces. By this policy, it is true, he was serving his own ambi- 
tion rather than the Church. Many a bishop brought very 
worldly aims to his work, and the discipline of the Church 
grew worse and worse. Yet Conrad II. administered justice 
and kept the peace with a strong hand. 

§ 5. Toward the close of his life, great disturbances in Italy 
summoned the emperor again across the Alps. He wrongly 
blamed, as the instigator of disorder, Aribert, whose ambition 
had long offended him. He found a strong support in Cen- 
tral Italy, especially in Tuscany, whose faithful margrave, 
Boniface, he had married to his kinswoman, Beatrice, the 
wealthy heiress of Upper Lorraine ; but he laid siege to Ari- 
bert in Milan without success. Then, for the first time, Ari- 
bert armed the citizens of Milan, as they thronged about their 
giant "carroccio," or standard-car, and gave them an organi- 
zation and laws. This was the germ of that free citizenship 
in the Italian cities which brought such severe conflicts upon 
later emperors. After reducing the rest of Italy to order, 
the emperor returned to Germany, and died soon after at 
Utrecht, June 4, 1039. He was buried at Spires, in the mag- 
nificent cathedral which he had built. 

Conrad II.'s reign accomplished a great w'ork for Germany. 
The growth of the ducal power had long threatened to break 
up the nation into distinct tribes and districts. He curbed 



156 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book II. 



the arrogance of these princes, and treated them as officers 
of the empire. He recovered from them the ancient lands of 
the crown, and strengthened against them the cities and the 
lower orders of nobility. Thus he contributed largely to 
build up that consciousness of national unity on which the 
strength of a national organization must rest. But the per- 
sonal character of Conrad II. is not attractive. He was often 
cruel and harsh, and his administration of Church affairs was 
subordinated to his own ambition and avarice, so that he no- 
toriously sold high spiritual offices for political services, and 
even for money. 




Henry III. {103'J-1U56). 



^ 6. Henry III. (1039-1056), son of Conrad II. and Gisela, 
had lono- before been chosen and anointed for his successor; 



Chap. VII. HENRY III. EXTENDS THE EMPIRE. 157 

and from childhood was trained by his father to affairs of 
war and state. His mother had besides taken care that he 
should be educated in all the learning of the times. Thus, 
though only twenty-three years of age, he brought to the 
government a manly maturity of mind. It was only in the 
neighboring countries that conflicts awaited him. The con- 
dition of Germany was such that no opposition met him 
there. Several expeditions to Bohemia were necessary, be- 
fore the bold Duke Bretislaw, who aspired to independence, 
submitted (a.d. 1041). Henry IH. increased the influence 
of the empire in Hungary. St. Stephen, who bad permanent- 
ly established the Christian religion there, and had also less- 
ened the dependence of his kingdom upon Germany, was now 
dead ; and his nephew, Peter, was driven out by a rebel. 
Henry restored him, but required him to cede the land as far 
as the March and the Leith, and made Leopold of Baben- 
berg Margrave of Austria. The ancient margraviatc of 
Carinthia he divided into the marks of Styria and Carniola. 
Henry found it necessary to make two more expeditions into 
the heart of Hungary ; but at last Peter accepted his throne as 
a fief of Germany, so that the imperial sway of Henry was 
complete. His first great act of internal administration was 
to prevail on the Diet at Constance, in 1043, to decree that 
there should be no right of private vengeance, but that quar- 
rels should be decided by law. Although the whole nation 
was now in wild disorder, with private feuds and the vio- 
lence and oppression of the nobles, yet he enforced this de- 
cree with such vigor that the laijd soon enjoyed substantial 
peace, and better order than had been known for centuries. 
At Goslar, in 1043, among the embassies which came to do 
honor to the emperor, was one from Russia, which finally of- 
fered him the hand of the czar's daughter. But he proudly 
declined it, and took for his second wife Agnes, daughter of 
the Duke of Poitiers. By this marriage he allied himself 
with the princely nobility of France, and strengthened his 
position also in Burgundy. He even formed plans still more 
grasping than those entertained by his father, and cherished 
the hope that from Burgundy he could extend his sway over 
all France, then much weakened by dissensions. 

§ v. But Henry exercised his power as a sovereign not 



158 HISTORY OF GEEMANY. Book II. 

merely for secular ends, but with a constant regard to the 
Church, The manners of the eleventh century were less civ- 
ilized than those of the tenth had been ; and, besides, inde- 
scribable misfortunes fell upon the people of Germany, Italy, 
Burgundy, and France, from wars, all kinds of deeds of vio- 
lence, famine, and pestilence. At such a time of distress, the 
papal see, as the notions of that age taught, ought to afford 
relief; but Rome itself was the scene of the greatest degen- 
eracy of all, and the popes neither received nor deserved any 
reverence. The distresses of the times awakened, first in the 
convent of Cluny, in Burgundy, a serious, penitent, and pious 
disposition ; which found expression, however, according to 
the spirit of the times, in acts of penance and monkish dis- 
cipline. It was from this place that the so-called " peace of 
God" was most efficiently promoted. This was originally 
proposed as an agreement among all Christians to lay aside 
all feuds and enmities, and live together in peace. But the 
Church was not strong enough to enforce this rule ; and it 
was modified into an injunction, on penalty of excommunica- 
tion, that all fighting, public or private, should be suspended 
from Wednesday evening of each week to the following Mon- 
day morning (a.d. 1043). Pious men did every thing in their 
power to establish this " treuga Dei," or truce of God, as a 
universal custom, under the sanction of all religious feelings ; 
and their success was so considerable that the horrors of war 
were for a, long time mitigated. So great was the influence 
of the example set at Cluny that some hundreds of convents 
in Burgundy and France united in the " Congregation of Clu- 
ny ;" and this religious enfhusiasm seized upon the best men 
of that time, and, among them, upon Henry III. He could see 
no escape from the corruptions of the age but in rigid sever- 
ity of life; and thought it his calling as emperor to confer 
this blessing upon his people, and to set them the example. 
Thenceforth he appointed none but serious, worthy men to 
bishoprics, and took from them neither money nor presents. 
He regarded the office of emperor as a sacred trust, for the 
reformation of Christianity ; and never placed the imperial 
crown on his brow without causing himself to be beaten 
with stripes. While thus humbling himself, he felt the more 
deeply his calling to wield the strong hand of the foremost 



Chaf. VII. HENRY III. AND THE POPES. 159 

monarch on earth in support of the Church. There were then 
in Rome three popes struggling for the chair of St. Peter. 
Marching to Rome, Henry held in the midst of his army at 
Sutri a synod, in the autumn of 1046, which marks the cul- 
mination of his power, and perhaps that of the splendor of 
the empire. The synod passed a solemn decree vesting in 
the emperor the right to Bominate the successor of St. Peter. 
Henry at once deposed all three of the popes, and in their 
stead enthroned a pious German, Suidgar, Bishop of Bamberg, 
as Clement H. ; from whose hands, in 1047, he received the im- 
perial crown in St. Peter's at Rome. The best of the deposed 
popes, Gregory VI., went into exile in Germany. His chap- 
lain, Hildebrand, a monk of Cluny, son of a carpenter of Si- 
ena in Italy, accompanied hira, no man at that time suspect- 
ing his future greatness. Upon the death of Clement, in 
1048, Henry HI. named the Bishop of Brixen as his successor, 
and he became Pope Damasus II. But he died in a few 
weeks, and the Romans again sent to the emperor, begging 
him to appoint the universal bishop. Henry sent his kins- 
man, Bruno, Bishop of Toul, to Rome, where he was wel- 
comed, and at once enthroned as Pope Leo IX. This fact 
alone suffices to show the wonderful height to w^hich the in- 
fluence of the empire had now been raised, Leo IX., for sev- 
eral years, steadily followed out Henry's plans of reforming 
the Church, putting down simony, and introducing a rigid 
discipline. Although he was much influenced by Hilde- 
brand, and elevated the character and dignity of the holy 
see above what it had been for ages before, it was impossi- 
ble, during Henry's life, even to claim for it that superiority 
to the civil power which was enforced by Hildebrand as 
Gregory VII. during the next generation. 

§ 8. From the day of the synod of Sutri to his death, Hen- 
ry III. was harassed by trials and opposition. Hungary now, 
upon the assassination of King Peter, again revolted from 
the empire; and Henry made three expeditions thither, with 
but moderate success. Gozelo of Lorraine, to whom Conrad 
II. owed so much, and to whom he had given the whole of 
Lorraine, also died. Henry determined to confer on Gozelo's 
son, Godfrey of the Long Beard, only Upper Lorraine. But 
Godfrey rebelled ; was defeated, and confined as a prisoner 



160 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

at Gibichenstein ; and Henry granted both parts of Lorraine 
to others. Godfrey was then pardoned ; but again began an 
obstinate rebellion, and was at last driven to Italy, Avhere he 
obtained in marriage the hand of Beatrice of Tuscany, the 
widow of Boniface ; so that this enemy of the emperor be- 
came the most powerful prince in Italy. In Lower Italy, too, 
changes took place that were to produce important results. 
The Normans, under Humphrey of Hauteville, had founded 
a kingdom which threatened the frontiers of the papal do- 
minions. Pope Leo IX., himself of German descent, was at 
war with them ; and, in the fashion of the German bishops, 
he led his troops in person. At the battle of Civitate, in 
1054, he was defeated and made prisoner. But the Normans, 
who were both cunning and pious, treated the successor of 
St. Peter with the greatest respect ; and the pope soon saw 
the importance of their friendship. He made peace with the 
Normans, who, disregarding the claims of the German em- 
peror to Lower Italy, accepted the land in fee as vassals of 
the pope. This event, and the newly established power of 
Godfrey, compelled the emperor to make another expedi- 
tion to Rome in 1055. Godfrey and Beatrice received him 
with submission and reverence ; but could never be trusted 
afterward. Nor was he able to break up the treaty between 
the pope and the Normans. 

§ 9. Upon his return, general discontent showed itself 
among the nobles of the empire, because Henry, like his fa- 
ther, endeavored to bring the great duchies into his own 
family, or to confer them upon insignificant persons depend- 
ent on himself. The complaints of the Saxons were espe- 
cially loud ; their ancient pride resenting their subjection to 
a Frank. The ducal house of the Billings in particular, who 
were allied with other great Saxon houses, thought them- 
selves injured in their princely rights by the emperor and 
his friend Adalbert of Bremen. The presence of the emper- 
or's court, henceforth held constantly among them, at Goslar, 
in order to keep them in subjection, was felt by the Saxons 
as a heavy burden. Discontent and conspiracy prevailed 
among the nobles throughout the empire; though the em- 
peror still repressed them with an iron hand. But his situa- 
tion was, in fact, as one of his faithful counselors and friends 



Chap. VII. PREMATURE DEATH OF HENRY III. 161 

saw it in a dream: "The emperor stood before his throne, 
with his hand upon his sword, and cried that he would yet 
strike down all his foes." While he was still in the flower 
of his age, death suddenly snatched him from a realm which 
never needed a strong ruler more than at that moment. Tlie 
new pope, Victor II., whom he had nominated two years be- 
fore, upon Leo IX.'s death, was with him on a visit. Many 
of the nobles were around him, at liis residence in Bodfeld, in 
the Hartz Mountains, where he was devoting some days to 
the pleasures of the chase. Thither came the news of a de- 
feat sustained by one of his armies at Pritzlava, on the Elbe, 
in battle with the Wends. The death of the great sovereign 
suddenly followed the tidings; and his empire fell to a child 
six years old, who seemed to be defenseless against approach- 
ing ruin. Henry III. died October 5, 1056, in his thirty-ninth 
year. 

§ 10. The first two emperors of the Franconian dynasty had 
held the reins of empire so firmly that the days of Charle- 
magne and of Otto the Great seemed to have returned. But 
the German tribes still retained that obstinate individuality 
which resisted a complete union ; and now the personal in- 
terests of the nobles, which were endangered by a too pow- 
erful sovereign, drove them to work in the same direction ; 
their princely power having been seriously diminished under 
Conrad II. and Henry HI. The moment W'as a propitious 
one for all who dreaded a consolidated empire ; for a child 
had suddenly ascended the throne, in place of the severest 
and strongest monarch they had ever had. AsTheophano had 
exercised the regency for Otto HI., so the Empress Agnes un- 
dertook to rule in the name of the young Henry IV., with 
Henry, Bishop of Augsburg, for her counselor. But envy, 
selfish ambition, and treason were already at work to destroy 
the royal prerogative. For while, under the earliest of the 
Franks, the times and manners were rough and cruel, they 
had now become reckless and without restraint, and all rev- 
erence for law and duty seemed lost. 

§ 11. Disorders soon broke out in various places. There 
were rumors of conspiracies in Saxony against the young em- 
peror's life. Agnes made many concessions, in order to win 
friends ; and even then she could not be sure of them. Otto, 

M 



162 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book II. 




Hem-y IV. (1056-1106). 

a Saxon nobleman, of the family of the Nordheims, wliose 
possessions lay near Gottingen, received from her the duke- 
dom of Bavaria, which Henry III. had taken for his own fjimily. 
A Suabian noble, Rudolf of Rheinfeld, violently carried oif 
the young daughter of the empress from the nunnery where 
she was at school, and, having thus made himself her son-in- 
law, obtained the dukedom of Suabia. That of Carinthia, 
Agnes bestowed upon Berthold of Zahringen. Nor could she, 
even by such concessions, buy faithful allegiance. All these 
men were untrustworthy ; and the centre of all the conspira- 
cies, whose aim was to deprive the empress of all her power, 
and to give it to the great nobles, was Hanno, Archbishop of 



Chap. VII. BISHOP HANNO USURPS THE REGENCY. l(J3 

Cologne; a man of inferior birth, but ambitious, unrelenting, 
and cunning, though his outward life was one of monkish 
sanctity. The natural result was that the influence of the em- 
pire in neighboring countries — in Italy, Hungary, and among 
the Wends — was lost ; and this was laid to the charge of the 
empress, who was also accused of educating her son effemi- 
nately. In short, Hanno and the princes in his conspiracy 
determined on a criminal project. The empress and her son, 
now twelve years old, were at Kaiserswerth on the Rhine. 
Hanno came to their court, and after a cheerful meal with 
them invited the young emperor to sail with him in his beau- 
tiful boat on the river. Without suspicion, the boy embarked 
with Hanno and some of the conspirators. The sailors rowed 
briskly far away, leaving the mother to lament for him on her 
balcony, while the people followed along the bank, venting 
their curses on the robbers. The young monarch himself, in 
terror, apprehending death, leaped into the river, and was res- 
cued with difliculty. But the enterprise was successful ; and 
Hanno, with the person of the emperor in his hands, was sus- 
tained by the nobles in the demand that he should have the 
regency (1062). The condition of the empire was not im- 
proved by the change. The empress retired from the world, 
and ended her days in exercises of piety in Italy. Under 
Hanno's sway, the royal authority became the prey of the 
strongest; and the young emperor himself became an eye- 
witness, a few years later, of a deadly fight in the cathedral 
ofGoslar, in which contentious churchmen fought in the holy 
place for worldly honors. 

§ 12. The young monarch grew suspicious, and full of rav- 
enous hatred, under these influences; and as far as he could, 
he threw himself into the arms of another guide, Adalbert, 
Archbishop of Bremen. This prelate was prouder than Han- 
no, and no less ambitious. He was striving to obtain the 
erection of his see, still the centre from which the missionary 
work was carried on across the North Sea and the Baltic, into 
a patriarchate of the North. He had been the friend of Henry 
III., and now sought the friendship also of the young Henry 
IV., and gained it, mainly by flattery and compliance. On 
attaining his sixteenth year, according to German law, the 
emperor's majority was formally proclaimed by the archbish- 



164 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

op's girding him with the sword ; but Adalbert continued to 
control him for several years afterward. In his undertakings, 
Adalbert had in many ways made enemies of the Saxon no- 
bles; and it was especially against them that he stirred up 
the suspicions of young Henry ; not without reason, since they 
were actually entertaining wicked plots against him. Mean- 
while the emperor was growing into independence. He found 
little left of the power, the property, or the law of his ances- 
tors, and all his effort was to recover these. In this work he ex- 
hibited all of his father's iron strength of will. But the youth's 
hot blood often boiled within him, and hurried him on to acts 
of violence, and still oftener to excesses, which were exagger- 
ated by the calumnies of his enemies. He endeavored to 
tame the wild spirit of the Saxons, and made use of the same 
means which the Germans had adopted in Italy, that of erect 
ing fortresses in commanding situations through the country. 
But since much arbitrary violence was practiced by the occu- 
pants of these places on their neighbors, he thus made ene- 
mies of the whole mass of the Saxons, and not of single no- 
blemen as before. But Henry took further measures to over- 
throw his enemies, who had ruled so long. A man appeared 
to accuse Otto of Nordheim, Duke of Bavaria, of conspiracy 
against the emperor's life ; and offered to appeal to "the judg- 
ment of God" in support of the charge. Henry deposed Otto, 
and put him under the ban, and with him Magnus, Duke 
of Saxony, of the Billing family, whom he soon after impris- 
oned in his citadel in the Hartz. He seemed to mean to do 
away entirely with the ducal office in Saxony; but- he gave 
Bavaria to a man named Welf, of an ancient Suabian house. 
Meanwhile Adalbert died, just as all his favorite plans had 
failed ; for the Wends, among whom he had undertaken, with 
the help of Godschalk, one of their princes, to found a- num- 
ber of subordinate bishoprics, revolted, and swept Christiani- 
ty from their territory. 

§13. Henry was extravagant in his habits, and wasted the 
royal revenues, already reduced by maladministration during 
his infancy. He was in want, and confiscated Church estates 
to obtain supplies; while his advisers and friends shared in 
the plunder. Their rapacity brought him general hatred ; 
while the open sale of ecclesiastical offices, which he renewed. 



Chap. Vir. THE SAXON REBELLION. 165 

corrupted public morals, and made the reformers of the Church 
his enemies. The vigor with which Henry IV. seized the reins 
of government only hastened a general conspiracy of the no- 
bles of the empire against him. In Saxony the whole people 
took part in it — clergy, noblemen, and commoners. Tliey all 
murmured at the intolerable oppression practiced by Henry's 
garrisons. Otto of Nordhoim was the head of the league. 
In South Germany, Rudolf of Suabia was in the j^lot, and 
Welf and Hanno had knowledge of it. Pope Alexander II., 
also, guided by Hildebrand, now Archdeacon of the Church 
of Rome, had already begun to meddle in German affairs. 
With all the authority of the Church, he resolutely resisted 
Henry's wicked purpose to divorce his noble wile. Bertha, and 
also sought to act as a mediator, in answer to the requests of 
the Saxons. Meanwhile all was ready for the outbreak. In 
1073, " all Saxony," says a chronicler, " revolted, as one man, 
from the king," and marched, eighty thousand strong, to the 
Ilartzburg, a stately citadel near Goslar, which the king had 
built for a residence upon a commanding height. After use- 
less negotiations, Henry made a narrow escape by flight. 
When he then summoned his princes around him, no one 
came; and here and there it began to be said that he must 
be entirely abandoned, and another monarch chosen. In this 
extremity, the cities alone remained faithful to the emperor, 
who for some time lay sick almost to death in his loyal city 
of Worms. The strong disposition which the people of the 
cities now showed to ally themselves with the crown, against 
the pretensions and oppression of the higher nobility, greatly 
modified the emperor's policy. As soon as he recovered, he 
went to work with real skill and energy to attach these flour- 
ishing communities still more closely to himself, as well as to 
disunite his enemies, and to win over some of the strongest 
of them. In this he succeeded well. He first defeated his 
foreign enemies in Hungary, and then, with unresting activ- 
ity, set his hand to the internal affairs of the countrj'^, through- 
out which he rapidly found friends. The Archbishop of May- 
ence, the Dukes of Lorraine and Bohemia, and then W'elf, 
Duke of Bavaria, joined him ; and finally Rudolf, who, a lit- 
tle before, had been plotting shamefully against him, thought 
it prudent to display great zeal in his cause. The union of the 



166 HISTORY OF GEKMANY. Book II. 

South German princes with the Saxons was broken, and Hen- 
ry improved the breach with skill. The Saxons, under a treaty 
which permitted them to break down the walls of the Hartz- 
burg, had wantonly destroyed all the buildings, even burn- 
ing the church and desecrating the graves. For these crimes 
the Archbishop of Mayence put them under the ban ; and in 
June, 1075, Henry marched against them, with such a splen- 
did army as hardly any emperor had ever led before. They 
now offered atonement and subjection, and Henry had an op- 
portunity to reconcile himself peacefully with his people, for 
the good of both; but his irritated passions thirsted for re- 
venge. After a march of extraordinary rapidity, he fell sud- 
denly upon the Saxons and their allies, the Thuringians, on the 
meadows of the Unstrutt, at Langensalza, near Hohenburg. 
His army, drawn up in an order resembling tliat which Otto 
the Great had formed on the Lech, obtained, after a fierce 
hand-to-hand fight of nine hours, a bloody victory. When 
the Saxons finally yielded and fled, the battle became a mas- 
sacre. The rage of the long-baffled victors expended itself in 
pursuing and cutting down the fugitives, and it is asserted 
that of the foot soldiers, who composed the mass of the Saxon 
army of 60,000, hardly any escaped ; though of the noblemen, 
who had swift horses, few were slain. But it was a battle of 
Germans with Germans, and on the very evening of the strug- 
gle the lamentations over so many slain by kindred hands 
could not be suppressed in the emperor's own camp. Yet 
for the time the spirit of Saxon independence was crushed. 
Henry was really master of all Germany, and seemed to have 
established the imperial throne again. And so it might have 
proved, had he not been unexpectedly plunged into a still 
more critical struggle. 

§ 14. We have seen that, amid the degeneracy of the elev- 
enth century, its prevailing misery and violence, the convent 
of Clnny became the centre of a moral reformation, though 
one that was clothed in a gloomy and ascetic form. In this 
reformation Henry III. took an active interest. Hildebrand 
introduced it into Italy, at the papal court, where, for nearly 
two hundred years, the popes had utterly neglected the high 
calling which the faith of that age assigned to them. During 
the life of Henry III., the Romans, who still nominally retained 



Chap. VII. THE POLICY OF HILDEBRAND. 167 

the power of electing the pope, listened to Hildebrand's ad- 
vice, and accepted the designation made for them by the 
emperor. During the minority of Henry IV., the election 
was made, for the first time, by the college of cardinals, who, 
between 1C56 and 1061, set up four popes in rapid succession. 
At last, in 1073, Hildebrand was chosen by them, and became 
Pope Gregory VII., the emperor, after some delay, consenting 
to his accession. This great man began at once to carry out 
his own ideas. The time of humiliation before the secular 
power, he thought, was past. The Church had in its hands 
the means of supreme dominion in Christendom, Learning 
was its monopoly; the clergy could read and write, but scarce 
a king or a nobleman could write his name. Priests were their 
secretaries, their historians, their teachers and counselors ; 
they framed the decrees of the Diet, and possessed all the se- 
crets of state. They entered every family, heard the confi- 
dences of every stricken heart or doubting mind at the con- 
fessional, and held over every pious or superstitious soul the 
terrors of another world. All that the clergy needed, to be su- 
preme, was an organization of their power under one mind, and 
this was what Hildebrand now undertook to give them. He 
steadily strove to free the Church from secular influence, even 
from that of the emj^eror. He therefore enforced the celibacy 
of the clergy ; a rule which had sometimes been proposed 
by Church councils, but had never before been carried out. 
Thenceforth the clergy, deprived of all family ties, were to 
regard themselves simply as members of that great ecclesias- 
tical community which was engaged in fulfilling the will of 
St. Peter's successor, the vicegerent of God and of Christ on 
earth, as declared from Rome. Momentous as this decree 
was, in its effect upon the Church and the people at large, it still 
might have seemed to concern the emperor but little. But a 
second decree followed, in a council held in 1075, which struck 
at the roots of his power. It declared that thenceforth bish- 
ops should not be inducted into oftice by the emperor or by 
any secular prince ; or, as it was expressed, that the investi- 
ture of bishops — that is, the form of conferring on them the 
ring and staff, the badges of their office — should no longer be 
the prerogative of any layman. The chapter of the cathe- 
dral, including all the clergy attached to it, was to elect the 



168 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

bishop, subject to confirmation by the pope. No gift or pay- 
ment should be made upon receiving this holy office, under 
the penalties of "simony " (Acts of the Apostles, viii., 18). In 
short, Hildebrand's fixed purpose was to make the facts con- 
form to his own favorite metaphor, in which, while the em- 
peror was the moon, the pope was the sun — its upholder, and 
the source of its life and light. 

§ 15. This decree was an especially hard blow to the sov- 
ereigns of Germany, who, since the time of Henry II., had 
sought and found their principal strength in the episcopacy. 
The possessions of the clergy comprised a considerable part 
of the soil of the empire; and as long as the king nomi- 
nated the bishops, he held in his hands the control of these 
lands and their incomes. Henry IV. had none of his father's 
rigid reo;ard for the interests of the Cliurch, but often and 
openly disposed of bishoprics under the pressure of his own 
necessities, and for mone3\ Both parties to such transac- 
tions were in 1075 put by Gregory VII. under the ban of the 
Church for simony. Gregory even required the emperor to 
remove all bishops thus appointed, and threatened, if he 
should refuse, to inflict on him the punishments of the Church. 
Henry had for a long time seen with apprehension the pope's 
increasing assumption of authority ; and now that he had 
defeated the Saxons and regained his supremacy in the em- 
pire, he undertook to wield his father's power, and to depose 
Gregory, not appreciating the decline of the empire in his 
own hands, or the wonderful strength of the papacy when 
wielded with the spirit of Gregory. In January, 1076, he held 
at Worms a synod of German bishops, most of whom, indeed, 
were far from being examples to the Church of good living 
and of high culture, and caused them, upon some trifling ac- 
cusations, to pass a decree of deposition against Gregory VII. 
The pope replied by the ban of excommunication — the first 
time any pope had thus attacked a German sovereign. Hen- 
ry was soon to learn the meaning of the ban, which loosed 
all ties of feudal allegiance. It was made especially danger- 
ous by the condition of the empire, and by his own unwise 
conduct, for he chose this time to defy public opinion, and 
to oppress his Saxon and Thuringian subjects, in particular, 
more cruelly than ever. The pope's ban was the signal of 



Chap. VII. HENRY IV. A SUPPLIANT AT CANOSSA. 169 

revolt to the princes, who were already jealous of the restored 
royal power. lu the autumn of this year (1076) they held a 
council at Tribur, on their ancient election field, and gave no- 
tice to the emperor that, unless the ban were removed within 
a year and a day, they could no longer regard him as their 
sovereign. 

§ 16. Henry, abandoned by all, and hearing that Gregory 
VII. was already on his way to Germany to give judgment 
in his case, resolved to submit. It seemed his only prudent 
course to conciliate the pope. He therefore made the jour- 
ney across the Alps at once, though it was the depth of a se- 
vere winter, and the streams were frozen almost to their beds. 
He did not, like his fathers, march at the head of hosts of 
warriors to Italy ; but went as a penitent, accompanied only 
by his noble wife. Bertha, whom he had persecuted in his 
prosperity, but who was his guardian angel in these dark 
days ; by a few faithful attendants, and the bishops who had 
been excommunicated with him. In Lombardy, where there 
was strong opposition to Gregory's innovations, Henry re- 
ceived ofters of aid in resistance ; but he refused them all, 
and hastened to Canossa, to the fortress of Matilda, the pow- 
erful Marchioness of Tuscany, a daughter of that Beatrice 
who had given so much anxiety to Henry HI. She Avas en- 
tirely devoted to Gregory VII. as her s])iritual iatlier, and 
had invited him to abide there under her protection. On 
January 25, 1077, the emperor stood barefoot in the snoAv, 
clad in hair-cloth, without attendants and without food, from 
morning to night, in the court-yard of the castle, begging for 
pardon from the pope. The same thing occurred the next 
day, and the third day ; and at length, on the morning of 
the fourth day, Gregory received the suppliant monarch, and 
removed the ban, though only on conditions which made the 
crown of Germany, for the time, a dependency of the Bishop 
of Rome. He then brake with the emperor the bread of the 
holy supper, and invoked the immediate wrath of heaven, if 
he were guilty of the crimes with which Henry had charged 
him ; adding, " Do as I do, my son, if you are guiltless where- 
in the princes accuse you." But the emperor did not dare 
to make a like appeal to the judgment of God. 

§ 17. The pope's ban was removed; but the disaffection of 



170 HISTOEY OF GERMANY. Book 11. 

the German princes toward Henry was greater than ever. 
On March 13, 1077, they assembled in a Diet at Forchheim,in 
his absence, and decreed that the German crown was and 
must always be elective, not hereditary, and dependent on 
the will of the nation. They also agreed to depose Henry 
IV. • and, after much shameful intrigue and bargaining, which 
disgusted even the pope's legate, and led him to denounce 
the election as simony, they chose Henry's brother-in-law, 
Rudolf of Suabia, their king. But the cities at once re- 
jected him, and the people drove him out of Mayence, whith- 
er he came to be crowned. The pope demanded that the 
two claimants should leave it to him to decide between 
them. Then, at length, Henry recovered his manly spirit 
and took up arms. The ban was again laid on him (1080) ; 
but he carried on the struggle in Germany with unwearied 
vigor, and even called his bishops together again, and decreed 
the deposition of the pope. The land was filled with blood- 
shed and desolation ; the result was long in doubt, most of 
the nobles turning this way and that, as fortune seemed to 
incline. But Henry found an efficient support in Frederick 
of Hohenstaufen, a Suabian nobleman, whose achievements 
now first made his house illustrious. Henry afterward gave 
him his daughter in marriage, and the duchy of Suabia in 
fee. Bohemia too was faithful to him throughout the strug- 
gle, and its duke was rewarded by him with the title of 
king. In the autumn of 1080, Rudolf was slain at Merse- 
burg, in a battle which would otherwise have been a victory 
for him. It is said that the hand which slew him was that of 
Godfrey of Boulogne, the young son of the Prince of Lorraine, 
a man reserved for greater honors. It was reported and 
believed that Rudolf, in his last moments, repented of his 
rebellion; and the loss in the battle of his right hand, with 
which he had once sworn allegiance to Henry, was regarded 
as a judgment of God. His followers made haste to submit, 
and the emperor recovered his power so far that he was able 
to set up an antipope, and to undertake an expedition to 
Rome against Gregory VII. (1081). He pressed the pope 
hard in Rome ; but Gregory took refuge in the Castle of San 
Angelo, where, with the firmness of iron, he refused to nego- 
tiate with tlie excommunicated emperor, wliile the antipope, 



Chap. VII. THE FIRST CRUSADE. 171 

Clement (Guibert), bestowed on Henry the crown of the 
C'jesars. At last, when Hildebrand was almost reduced to 
extremities, he was rescued from capture by the Normans, 
under their king, Robert Guiscard, son of Humphrey of 
Hauteville. He died in exile at Salerno, in 1085, under the 
protection of the Normans, and leaving his ban still upon 
Henry IV. "I have loved justice and hated iniquity, and 
therefore I die in exile," said he, in the tone of a martyr. 
His unyielding spirit and his lofty conception of the papacy 
were inherited by his successors.. Henry IV, seemed out- 
wardly to be the conqueror. But a series of misfortunes ru- 
ined his family, and mutual distrust destroyed the harmony 
between him and his nobles ; though his cup of calamity was 
not yet half drained. Indeed, the ideas against which Henry 
was struoojlino; were irresistible tendencies of the age ; and 
while Gregory was driven by force from Rome, his princi- 
ples were finding a home in men's thoughts throughout 
Christendom. Within ten years after Hildebrand's death, his 
successor in the papal chair was the recognized head of the 
united Christian nations in the greatest enterprise they ever 
attempted. 

§ 18. The religious enthusiasm, which took its rise in Clnny, 
and spread through the Church under the influence of Hilde- 
brand and his followers, soon found a visible goal to aim at. 
All Western Christendom arose in the eftort to wrest the 
holy sepulchre from the hands of the infidels. Thousands 
upon thousands, under the preaching of Peter the Hermit of 
Amiens, and at the exhortation of Pope Urban II., put on 
the badge of the cross. The movement embraced Germany, 
but especially Lower Lorraine. Yet the majority of the peo- 
ple, and the Emperor Henry IV., were not aftected by the 
impulse ; they looked with astonishment on the disorderly 
throng of hermits who passed through Germany, showing 
their fierce zeal for the faith mainly by assassinating the 
Jews. Then came the more orderly army of crusaders led 
by Godfrey of Boulogne, a prince of the German Empire, 
who in 1099 actually obtained possession of the holy sepul- 
chre, and whose brother became King of Jerusalem. 

§ 19. This new agitation of the Church only added to the 
isolation of the still excommunicated emperor. As early as 



172 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

1092, his oldest son, Conrad, who had lived mostly in Italy, 
was induced to rebel against his father. Failing in this at- 
tempt, the youth soon after died in prison. The love and hope 
of the emperor, as he grew old, centred in his younger son, 
Henry. But he, too, fell under the influence of his father's 
enemies. The adherents of Rome, as well as many of the 
German princes, supposed that they, by assisting the youth 
to the throne, would obtain a claim upon him for greater 
concessions. Besides, they persuaded him that his father 
was under the ban, and that rebellion was therefore no sin. 
But young Henry was of a far more secretive and calculating 
turn than his father had been in youth. To the fierceness 
of all his race was added in him a cold, sly cunning. He 
too, in 1105, rebelled, and most of the South German princes 
joined him. Henry IV., in despair, took up arms to defend 
himself; and a civil war, yet more horrible than any before 
it, desolated the empire. 

§ 20. The father and son met at the river Regen, the former 
still sti'ong in the support of Leopold of Austria and of the 
Duke of Bohemia. Skirmishing had gone on for three days 
without result, when young Henry promised Leopold of Aus- 
tria the hand of his sister Agnes, the widow of Duke Fred- 
erick of Staufen. With Leopold the whole army deserted 
the aged emperor, and he stood, like Lewis the Pious on " the 
Field of Lies," alone. But the favor which his forefathers, 
and he more than any of them, had shown to the cities, did 
him now good service. Through the I'ights and immunities 
granted them by the emperors, from the time of Conrad IL, 
they had become flourishing communities, especially the rich, 
strongly fortified cities along the great avenue of traffic, the 
river Rhine. They all declared for the old emperor; and the 
fortunes of his impious son seemed to be waning. He put 
on the mask of hypocrisy, and came humbly to his father at 
Coblentz, asking forgiveness, promising that the princes then 
assembled at Mayence should adjust their dispute. The fa- 
ther forgave his son, and embraced him with tears, and then 
rode with him, unsuspiciously, to the appointed place of meet- 
ing. But the son had the wicked cunning to persuade him 
to enter the citadel of Bockelheim, in the valley of the Nahe. 
The portcullis fell behind the emperor, and he was his son's 



Chap. VII. ACCESSION OF HENRY V. 173 

prisoner. The young man and his nobles now demanded 
trom him a voluntary abdication of the crown, and the sur- 
render of the crown-jewels. Crushed by his misfortunes, 
the old man yielded ; but he was still maltreated, and even 
pat in fear of death. He made his escape, and the faithful 
citizens rallied once more to protect him. The war began 
anew ; and the prospect seemed as doubtful as ever, when the 
tidings spread from Liittich that the old emperor was dead 
(August 7, 1106). Even in death the pope's ban followed 
him, for his coffin was left upon unhallowed ground, unbur- 
ied, for more than five years ; but the people lamented bit- 
terly their beloved sovereign, who had atoned for the errors 
of his youth by long and severe suffering. Certainly his 
last years did much, if the old chroniclers may be believed, to 
remove the stains of his early follies and crimes. He is rep- 
resented as having, after his victory over Gregory VII., pro- 
tected the poor against their oppressors, put down robbery, 
administered justice, and maintained the public peace. He 
certainly gained before his death the approval and esteem 
of that 2)ublic opinion Avhich had for many years held him in 
aversion and contempt. 

§ 21. Henry V. was now recognized throughout the em- 
pire. He owed his crown to the papal party and the nobles; 
but upon taking possession of it, he showed that he had a 
will strong enough not to yield any part of his authority to 
any one. He succeeded in restoring the dignity of the em- 
pire in Flanders, and in securing his western frontier ; but on 
the east his campaigns against the Poles, Hungarians, and 
Bohemians were less decisive. There Avas little to change 
in his relations to the nobles of the kingdom. All the fiefs, 
not only of the dukes, but of the counts also, were now he- 
reditary. The royal domains were greatly reduced. The 
king was scarcely any where the immediate lord of the soil. 
In time of war he summoned his great vassals, and then they 
summoned their inferior feudal dependents, and' formed witli 
these the imperial armies. Thus the feudal constitution was 
extended to the lowest classes. But the monarch was still 
the sovereign feudal head of the whole system ; and, Avith 
the control of this highly organized body, a strong ruler 
could certainly do. more than any of the other kings in Eu- 



174 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book II. 




Heury V. (1100-1125). 

rope, who were no less restricted by their great vassals. 
Henry V. by no means lacked the wisdom and vigor his an- 
cestors had shown. He was resolute and bold, but hasty and 
passionate, so that he overreached his own ends by violence. 
The papal party soon saw that they had misjudged him. 
He contended with the pope for the right of investiture with 
yet more determination than his father; and in 1110 he 
undertook, in this cause, a magnificent expedition to Rome. 
In Lombardy, in the fields of Roncaglia on the Adige, he held 
an imperial assembly, in which the cities of Italy, which had 
made still more rapid progress in pride and in prosperity 
than those of Germany, acknowledged his supremacy, except 
Milan and Pavia. In order to strengthen the Church, the 
Margravine Matilda, who had now become the wife of the 



Chap. VII. POPE PASCHAL II. A CAPTIVE. 175 

younger Welf, son of Welf of Bavaria, also acknowledged 
Henry as her feudal lord. In 1111 he went to Rome, when 
a fierce controversy arose wdth Pope Paschal II., upon the 
questions of his coronation and of investitures ; but finally 
the pope yielded, and, in the ancient fashion, escorted Henry 
to St. Peter's Cathedral with songs of praise and festal re- 
joicings. But Henry had already caused the church to be 
occupied and surrounded by his Germans ; and when discus- 
sion began again concerning the coronation, one of his fol- 
low^ers cried out impatiently, " Why so much talk ? My 
lord the king w'ill be crowned as Charlemagne was." The 
pope refused to go on with the ceremony until the emperor 
should take an oath to renounce forever the riglit of investi- 
ture ; but he Avas at once made prisoner by the Germans. 
Henry carried him off', in spite of the furious resistance of 
the Komans, cutting a way with the sword. But the spirit 
of Gregory VII, still lived in the Chui'ch, When the pope 
yielded, and, on his release from captivity, actually crowned 
Henry (April 13, 1111), and sanctioned his right to invest 
bishops with ring and staff", the French clergy and the car- 
dinals ])ronounced the ban of the Church upon the emperor, 
and carried on the war "with their spiritual weapons. ' Henry 
V. returned to Germanv. His general, Hoier of Mansfeld, 
met the Saxon and Tliui'ingian nobles, Lewis the Springer, 
Wieprecht of Groitzsch, and others, who had again risen 
against the emperor, at Warnstedt, north of the Hartz, in 
1113, and defeated them. 

§ 22. The emperor, now at the height of his power, gave 
his father a magnificent burial at Spires, and in 1114 celebra- 
ted at Mayence a splendid marriage with Matilda of England. 
Yet he did not succeed in preserving his royal supremacy un- 
impaired in North Germany, where the Saxon nobles were 
constantly striving for greater independence. Next came an 
insurrection in Cologne, the city refusing to furnish Henry 
with vessels against the Frisians ; and the princes of the Low- 
er Rhine were in league with the city. The emperor under- 
took to reduce it, but was repulsed with heavy loss, fin ding- 
here the turning-point in his fortunes. Lewis of Thuringia, 
the builder of the Wartburg, who had attempted so much 
against Henry IV., and whom Henry V. had made prisoner, 



176 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 



became the centre of a new insurrection of Saxon and Thu- 
ringian nobles, and after a long and bloody contest they de- 
feated the emperor at the Welfesholz, near Mansfeld in the 
Hartz, in 1115. All North Germany, and nearly the whole 
German Church, now deserted him. But in South Germany, 
Frederick of Hohenstaufen, Duke of Suabia, maintained the 
royal authority, while Bavaria, under Welf 11., was also 

faithful. 

§ 23. The dispute concerning investitures was reopened by 
the pope, who, at the bidding of a synod at Rome, sent to 
Henry withdrawing his concessions. Another difference 
with the pope required his attention. On July 24, 1115, the 
Margravine Matilda died, bequeathing her vast estates to 
the holy see, although the lands were a fief of the empire, 
which, on failure of lieirs, legally escheated to the crown. 
Henry V. also made claim to her allodial estates, as her next 
of kin, though he could not rightfully dispute her disposition 
of these by will. His adherents in Italy disregarded her be- 
quests, and invited Henry to come and take possession of her 
estates. He accordingly marched to Italy, in February, 1116, 
and remained there two years, occupying the lands of Ma- 
tilda, and making friends. In January, 1118, Paschal II. 
died. Henry set up an antipope, Gregory VIII,, against his 
successor, Gelasius, and was put under the ban ; but he re- 
mained the master of Italy, and his pope occupied Rome. 
Gelasius fled to France, where he died in exile, January 29, 
1119, and the leader of the emperor's enemies among the car- 
dinals was chosen to succeed him as Pope Calixtus II. He 
was a distinguished Burgundian, and a kinsman of Henry. 
Meanwhile the German princes, under the advice of Adalbert, 
Archbishop of Mayence, called a Diet to meet at Worms, to 
take measures for allaying the general discontent ; and openly 
declared their purpose, if Henry V. should not be present, of 
deposing him, and electing another king. The emperor re- 
turned in haste to Germany, while Calixtus went to France, 
then a flourishing kingdom, and fast becoming a mainstay of 
the papal power. The emperor and the pope seemed already 
to be reconciled, and were ready to meet for negotiations at 
Rheims. But Calixtus dreaded Henry's cunning, and the fate 
of Paschal II. ; the peace was broken, and once more the 



Chaf. VII. THE CONCORDAT OF WORMS. 177 

thunderbolt of the ban fell upon Henry. Yet fortune still 
smiled upon the emperor in Germany, as upon the pope in 
Italy ; and both, in their success, were inclined to a reconcil- 
iation. The German princes first united in a treaty with 
Henry V., under which peace was to be maintained and jus- 
tice administered by the emperor throughout the realm, and 
the civil power to be upheld in independence of the clergy ; 
and then they undertook the work of mediation with the pope. 
At length the controversy upon investitures, after fifty years 
of strife, was settled by the concordat of Worms, September 
23, 1122. It was decided that the pope should have the right 
to invest the bishops with ring and crozier, but that the elec- 
tion of each should be made in the presence of the monarch 
or of his plenipotentiary ; and that the new bishop should 
receive his estates as a fief of the crown by the touch of the 
emperor's sceptre, before he could be ordained. This com- 
promise seemed practically to give the controlling influence 
over the clergy in Germany to the emperor; in Italy, to the 
pope. Thus the emperor had retained much of his authority ; 
but still the bishops were thenceforth more dependent on 
Rome than on him, and the best support of the throne was 
much weakened. Henry died at Utrecht, May 23, 1125, leav- 
ing no children. This was regarded by the people, who never 
loved him, as the penalty of his own breach of filial duty, in 
his war against his father. 

§ 24. The Franconian dynasty received from Henry II. 
a re-established empire, though the great fees of the crown 
had already become hereditary. Its first monarchs, Conrad 
I. and Henry III., were inferior to none of the German emper- 
ors. They strengthened the crown so that they could plaus- 
ibly think once more of an empire, in the sense of Otto the 
Great, and even of a sort of universal sovereignty. It then 
descended to a child, whose weak hand could not curb the 
turbulent and jealous nobles. At this time, too, the Church 
came forward as a new power, with its resources better or- 
ganized than those of the empire, with a deeper influence 
over the people, and with means of control which were might- 
ier than the sword. In contending against the two powers, 
the nobles and the Church, Henry IV., whose own character 
was open to attack at so many points, was overthrown. 

N 



178 HISTORY or GERMANY. Book II. 

Toward the end of the eleventh century, all fiefs were hered- 
itary ; the bishoprics were out of the hands of the emperor, 
and he had but the strength of his personal followers and his 
own moral weight to rely on. In morality and culture, Ger- 
many in the eleventh century was behind the Romance na- 
tions, whose minds were just then awakening to new activity. 
The immense influence of the crusades was essential to bring 
on the new era with the knighthood and the bloom of the 
Middle Ages. 




Lothaire the Saxon (1125-1137). 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE HOUSE OF HOHENSTAUFEN. A. D. 1 1 38-1254. 



I. The Hohenstaufen Family. § 2. Lothaire Elected German King. § 3. 
His Administration and Death. § 4. Election of Conrad II. of Hohen- 
staufen. Guelph and Ghibbeline. §."). Crusade of 1147. Death of Conrad 

II. § 6. Frederick I., Barbarossa. His Situation and Aims. § 7. His 
First Expedition to Italy. § 8. Henry of Saxony, the Lion. § 9. Fred- 
erick in Italy again. War in Lombardy. § 10. League of the Lombard 
Cities. § 11. Fourth March to Italy. Power of Henry the Lion. § 12. 
He Refuses to Aid Frederick. § 13. Armistice and Peace of Constance. 
§ 14. The Great Duchies Divided. Henry Banished. § ]."». Festival at 



180 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

Mayence. § 16. Frederick's Crusade and Death. § 17. Situation and 
Character of Henry VI., a.d. 1190. Richard of England a Prisoner. 
§ 18. Henry's Projects and Death. § 19. Philip of Suabia; his War 
with Otto. § 20. Otto IV. and Pope Innocent III. § 21. Frederick II. 
Expels Otto. § 22. His Attachment to Italy, and Coronation. § 23. 
His Excommunication, Crusade, and subsequent Reign in Sicily. § 24. 
His Son Henry Rebels. § 25. Frederick's War with Pope Gregory IX. 
His Death. § 2C>. Conrad in Germany. The Mongols Defeated. Anti- 
kings. § 27. Manfred in Sicily ; Expelled by Charles of Anjou. § 28. 
Conradin Invades Italy ; is Taken and Slain. § 29. National Disintegra- 
tion under the Hohenstaufens. 

§ I. The natural heirs of the exthict Frank dynasty were 
the brothers Conrad and Frederick of Hoheustaufen, They 
were the nephews of Henry V., and as his heirs at once took 
possession of his private property. This family was the same 
which had first established the power of the unfortunate 
Henry IV. by its noble faithfulness to him. It took its 
name from the lofty hill Staufen, in Suabia, overlooking the 
valley of the Rems, with a wide prospect of vine-clad hill- 
sides and of garden plains. They were of the meditative, 
poetical, and highly gifted tribe of Suabians, from which 
have sprung the best German poets of all times, and many 
other men of splendid genius. Frederick was Duke of Sua- 
bia, Conrad was Duke of the Franks. It seemed that the 
choice of sovereign must fall upon one of these brothers, and 
Frederick was. regarded as the favorite. But both the nobles 
and the Church desired an emperor not too powerful, and one 
by no means disposed to attack the pope or the princely in- 
dependence of the feudal lords ; and they regarded either of 
the two Hohenstaufens as in these respects dangerous. The 
cardinals, who attended the election in the pope's name, as 
well as the nobles, turned their thoughts to another family. 
At the head of the Saxons, who revolted from Henry V., 
there stood a mighty and rich man, Lothaire of Siipplingen- 
burg (now a village in Brunswick), who by inheritance and 
by marriage had united in his own possession the estates of 
the extinct Nordheimer family, around Gottingen, and those 
of the Brunos near Brunswick. At the head of the Saxons, 
he had long been the champion both of the nobles and of 
the Church against the emperor, and thus had a strong claim 
on them for the German crown. 



Chap. VIII. REVOLT OF THE HOHENSTAUFENS. 181 

§ 2. On the extinction of the royal house, an assembly of 
the whole German people was held, August 24, 1125, on 
the old election field of Kamba, as a hundred years before. 
Nearly sixty thousand came together. But only the nobles 
really took part in the election. A committee of forty elect- 
ors was formed, from the four principal tribes — the Franks, 
the Saxons, the Suabians, and the Bavarians. Adalbert, Arch- 
bishop of Mayence, controlled the election, and, amid extreme 
confusion and disorder, declared Lothaire chosen. He at 
once asked for the pope's confirmation in assuming the Ger- 
man crown, and renounced the right to have bishops elected 
in his presence, thus giving up entirely his influence on these 
elections. But while thus pliant to the Church, he met his 
enemies with resolution. Frederick of Suabia had opposed 
his election ; and Lothaire now demanded back from him 
certain estates of his uncle, Henry V., of which he had taken 
possession, declaring them to be a part of the royal domain, 
and not private property. Frederick thought himself strong 
enough to resist, and Lothaire put him under the ban of the 
empire. At first the king was unsuccessful in the Avar, until 
he won over to his side Henry the Proud, grandson of Welf 
L, a very powerful nobleman, to whom Henry IV. had given 
the fief of Bavaria. Lothaire gave him in marriage his only 
daughter, Gertrude (1127), the heiress to all his estates in 
Saxony. Thus the house of the Welfs, or Guelphs, which, 
like the Hohenstaufens, arose in Suabia, but was also high in 
honors and wealth in Italy, now obtained a footing also in 
Saxony, where Henry the Proud had already, through his 
mother Wulfhild, acquired most of the possessions of the 
Billing family. The rest of these went, through Eileke, Wulf- 
hild's younger sister, to Otto the Rich of Ballenstedt, father 
of Albert the Bear, the ancestoi' of the Ascanii. Lothaire 
afterward gave Henry the dukedom of Saxony, in addition 
to that of Bavaria ; and thus established the Welfs, for whom 
he seemed to be building up the throne, in a power not be- 
fore known under the empire. Meanwhile Conrad of Ho- 
henstaufen, returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, not 
only stirred up his elder brother, Frederick, to more energetic 
resistance, but obtained a large party of adherents, assumed 
the royal title, and in 1128 went to Italy to seek the aid of 



182 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

the pope and the Lombard cities. But Pope Honorius II. 
excommunicated him, and he returned to Germany, where 
he and Frederick succeeded in defending themselves with dif- 
ticulty against Lothaire. 

§ 3. Honorius II. died in 1130, and his successor. Innocent 
II., driven from Rome by the people, and by their antipope, 
Anacletus, fled to Germany to seek the aid of the emperor. 
Lothaire held a Diet at Liittich, which declared Innocent the 
rightful pope; and in August, 1132, he confided the charge 
of the empire to Henry the Proud, and marched from Wiirz- 
burg, with only 1500 knights, to Italy. He reached Rome 
almost without resistance (1133), restored Innocent to his 
see, and received from him the imperial crown. He also re- 
ceived the possessions of the late Margravine Matilda as a fief 
from the papal see, but as a family possession, and not as the 
property of the empire. He assigned them to his son-in-law, 
Henry the Proud, to hold as the pope's vassal; but Lothaire's 
acceptance of the fief gave the popes occasion soon after to 
attempt to treat the empire itself as their feudal dependency. 
Upon Lothaire's return, Germany was again reduced to order. 
In 1134 Lothaire captured and destroyed Ulm, the ducal 
capital of the Hohenstaufens ; and the next year Fi'ederick 
gave in his submission, " barefoot," at Fulda, and " on his 
knees" before the Diet at Bamberg. The emperor granted 
him the inheritance of Henry V. as a fief of the crown, and 
not as his hereditary estate. Conrad also renounced the 
crown, and was restored to his estates and dignities. Lo- 
thaire's government of Germany was more brilliant than 
that of his two latest predecessors. Foreigners honored 
him, order was maintained in the realm ; and it was only 
in his relations to the Church that Lothaire showed weak- 
ness. The crowns of Denmark and Poland acknowledged 
him as their feudal lord. Undertakings which had slept 
since the time of Otto the Great were renewed. Albert 
the Bear, a friend who had already fought with Lothaire 
against Henry V., one of the noble Saxon family of the As- 
canii, whose home lay north of the Hartz in Aschersleben, 
Ballenstedt, and at Anhalt in the valley of the Selke, was in 
1134 made Margrave of North Saxony. He soon began to 
spread German civilization farther beyond the Elbe. In 



Chaf. VIII CONRAD OF HOHENSTAUFEN ELECTED. 183 

113V Lothaire made a new expedition to Rome to punish 
Roger II., the Norman, who proclaimed himself king of 
Apulia and Sicily, and supported the antipope, Anacletus. 
The emperor marched magnificently through Italy ; and in 
his name Conrad of Hohenstaufen, to whom he intrusted the 
imperial banner, subdued Apulia; while Henry the Proud 
marched down the western side of Italy with another army, 
escorting Pope Innocent. On his return, Lothaire died just 
as he had crossed the Alps, December 3, 1137. His body 
was taken to Saxony, and buried in the convent church of 
Konigslutter, on his own family estate. 

§ 4. Henry the Proud regarded himself as heir to the im- 
perial crown, which was destined for him by Lothaire, and 
at once took possession of the crown-jewels. Nor was there 
a mightier prince in the realm. In Italy the possessions of 
Matilda, including almost all Tuscany, had been granted 
him as a tief, and his allodial estates stretched across Bavaria 
to Saxony. He was, besides, duke in two great countries, 
which he ruled with wisdom and vigor; so that nearly half 
the empire was his. But the same consideration which had 
previously diverted the choice of the electors from Frederick 
of Hohenstaufen to Lothaire — their dread of too powerful a 
monarch — now inclined them to prefer to Henry his Hohen- 
staufen competitor. Tliis was Conrad, who was regarded by 
the Church party as trustworthy, while Henry the Proud had 
made many enemies in Italy by his arrogance, and had of- 
fended Pope Innocent HI. In February, 1138, three months 
before the day appointed for the election, Adalbert, Archbish- 
op of Treves, proclaimed Conrad king at Coblentz, and in 
March a papal legate crowned him at Aix. Like Lothaire, 
and even less honorably than he, Conrad HI. gained his throne 
by concessions to the lords and clergy. He reigned from 
1138 to 1152. Henry the Proud, after an unavailing effort to 
secure a legal election, was compelled to submit, and reluct- 
antly surrendered the crown-jewels. Conrad then deprived 
him of Saxony, on the ground that no one man should hold 
two dukedoms, and granted it to Albert the Bear. Henry 
the Proud resisted : Conrad put him under the ban, and de- 
prived him also of Bavaria, granting it to Leopold IV. of Aus- 
tria, of the house of Babenberg. Henry found himself aban- 



184 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book II. 




Conrad III. (1138-1152). 

doned by the Bavarian nobles, and undertook to make a 
stand with only the Saxons ; but, broken by misfortune, he 
died suddenly, October 20, 1139, before a battle was fought. 
He left, in the midst of enemies, a son of ten years of age, 
afterward known as Henry the Lion. But his widow Ger- 
trude, and her mother Richenza, women of a manly spirit, 
defended Saxony against Albert the Bear. Welf, the brother 
of Henry the Proud, maintained the cause of his family in 
Bavaria, and on liis advance to relieve Weinsberg, then be- 
sieged by Conrad (December 21, 1 140), arose, for the first time, 
the war cries " Welf" and " Waiblingen," or " Guelph " and 
" Ghibbeline," which resounded through the torn empire for 



Chap. VIII. THE SECOND CRUSADE. 185 

a century, and long afterward survived as party names. 
" Welf " was the family name of the leaders on one side ; 
while the Hohenstaufens were called Waiblinger, from the 
little town of Waiblingen, the birthplace of Frederick, Duke 
of Suabia. Weinsberg Avas compelled to surrender to Conrad 
III., who, however, pledged his M'ord that the women should 
be permitted to leave the city unmolested, with whatever of 
their possessions they could carry in their arms. Accordingly 
they came forth, each carrying her husband. Young war- 
riors, eager for their prisoners, protested that this was a vio- 
lation of the terms granted, but Conrad insisted that his royal 
word could not be broken, and the men were saved. The 
war continued for a time; but in October, 1141, Leopold IV. 
of Austria died ; and the next year Conrad married his broth- 
er and heir, Henry of Austria, to Gertrude, mother of Henry 
the Lion, and gave him Bavaria with her as a dowry. Peace 
ensued, and Conrad granted Saxony to the child Henry, tak- 
ing from it, however, the northern mark, which he gave as 
an independent principality to Albert the Bear. The latter 
thenceforth took the title of Margrave of Brandenburg, and 
laid the foundation of a new German power for the remote 
future. 

§ 5. Meanwhile St. Bernard of Clairvaux stirred up Western 
Christendom to a new crusade. For the Saracens already se- 
riously threatened the newly founded Christian power in the 
East, and even Jerusalem itself The pope, Eugene III., was 
then without influence, and was opposed even in Rome by a 
republican party, hostile to the Church, under Arnold of Bres- 
cia. In his stead St. Bernard, a man of commanding eloquence 
and deep piety, summoned the kings and the people to the 
crusade. King Louis VII. of France earnestly embraced the 
cause. But Conrad III. felt little desire for so remote an en- 
terprise. Yet even he was overcome by Bernard's fiery elo- 
quence, and resolved to go (114V). Accompanied by his 
young nephew Frederick, and by his former antagonist, Welf, 
he led an army of 70,000 heavy-armed cavalry to the East. 
But the jjious efibrt accomplished nothing, save that the 
crusaders of Northwestern Germany, making the journey by 
sea, gave manly assistance in the capture of Lisbon. Conrad 
lost almost his whole army, either by disease in their camp near 



186 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 



Constantinople, or in fight with the Saracens among the hills 
of Asia Minor, and in 1 149 he returned. The only good accom- 
plished by this crusade at home was that Germany enjoyed 
profound peace, the robber knights who infested the high- 
ways nearly all assuming the cross. Conrad was broken in 
spirit by his failure. In 1150 his son Henry, the hope and 
pride of his house, suddenly died, and the emperor rapidly 
sank under the blow. In conscientious care for the nation, 
he recommended to the princes his nephew Frederick for his 
successor, to the exclusion of his own remaining son, who was 
still a child, and could not be expected to defend the throne. 
He died February 15, 1152. 

§ 6. Frederick, called by the Italians Barbarossa(Redbeard), 
was at once elected by the princes in Frankfort, March, 1152, 
and crowned at Aix, and in him the empire found a ruler 
worthy to be named with Charlemagne and Otto the Great. 
Though but thirty-one years of age, he was already famous 
for his achievements, and all Germany rejoiced at his election. 
It was hoped that he would reconcile the Welfs and the Stau- 
fens, since his own mother was of the former house. Nor, in 
fact, did Frederick stoop to family feuds. His aims were 
higher. He took the crown upon him at Aix, with the fixed 
resolve to restore to the empire the power of Charlemagne. 
The immediate authority of the sovereign, indeed, was no 
longer so controlling as it had been, the feudal system now 
reaching its complete development ; but he was still regard- 
ed as the fountain of j)Ower, the chief commander in war, and 
the supreme judge for all the tribes in peace ; and the nobles, 
though their honors were hereditary, were still his vassals. 
In place of the coarseness and barbarism of the eleventh cent- 
ury, too, under the growing moral influence of the Church, 
nobler manners and thoughts had been introduced ; and men's 
minds were ready to entertain and appreciate broader and 
loftier aims. It was thus in the power of a strong emperor, 
while cheerfully recognizing the established rights of the 
nobility, to enforce his claims upon their allegiance as their 
supreme head, and thus to grasp their strength in a firm 
hand. Frederick cherished this purpose, and showed it in his 
royal progress through the empire. At Merseburg he gave 
judgment between Sweyn and Canute, rival claimants of the 



Chap. VIII. 



THE POLICY OF BARBAROSSA. 



187 




Frederick I., Barbarossa (1152-1190). 

Danish throne, crowning tlie former, and receiving from him 
the oath of homage and allegiance. Following the example 
of Henry IV., he granted to the Duke of Bohemia a royal 
crown, and thus attached his Sclavonic tribes more closely to 
Germany. Burgundy, also, became an immediate dependency 
of his crown, through his wife Beatrice, the niece and heiress 
of Count William of Burgundy (Franche Comte). At the 
splendid beginning of his reign, Frederick was acknowledged 
by the princes of Europe as indisputably the first among 
them all. 

§ 1. But Frederick Avas fascinated, above all else, by the 
honor of the imperial title, and hence his aim was not only 



188 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

to maintain order in Germany, but to succeed the Caesars in 
Rome and Italy. To this end it was necessary to secure the 
support both of the pope and of the mightiest of his own 
princes, Henry the Lion. Accordingly, in 1153, at Constance, 
he received an embassy from Pope Eugene III., and agreed 
to sustain him against the Romans, while the legate consented 
to pronounce a divorce, on a weak pretext, between Frederick 
and his wife Adelheid. Henry the Lion laid claim to the 
duchy of Bavaria, which Conrad HI. had given, while Henry 
was a child, to Henry of Austria. The emperor was much 
embarrassed, unwilling to offend his uncle, yet unable to dis- 
pense with the aid of Henry the Lion ; but he finally consent- 
ed to disjDossess the former, and Henry of Austria was form- 
ally deposed at a Diet in Goslar, in 1154. Frederick then 
marched to Italy to aid the new pope, Anastasius IV., Eugene 
having died the previous year. But he found a condition of 
affairs in Italy greatly changed from that which his prede- 
cessors had seen there. Not only were the Normans in Italy 
now wholly independent of the empire, but in Northern Italy 
the manufacturing and trading cities had grown into power- 
ful and independent communities, no longer disposed to sub- 
mit to any foreign master. In earlier times they had been 
generally governed by bishops; but during tfhe dissensions 
of the Church, and the stormy elections and struggles of 
popes and antipopes, they had obtained by custom the right 
of choosing their oM'n burgomasters or consuls, their senate, 
and their administrative officers ; nor were they ready to con- 
cede to the emperor any rights of sovereignty. Italy was 
just at this time agitated by another circumstance. An en- 
thusiastic monk, Arnold of Brescia, preached against the sec- 
ular possessions of the Church, and roused the Italians to en- 
thusiasm, especially in Rome, by recounting the glories of 
their ancient republic, and calling for its restoration. He 
finally obtained the control of Rome, and the people rebelled, 
and drove into exile Pope Adrian IV., who had succeeded 
Anastasius IV., December, 1154. Barbarossa now marched 
to the pope's assistance. He mustered his army in the fields 
of Roncaglia, and here the German dukes and princes kept, for 
the first night, the guard of honor around his tent. He spent 
but a short time in attempting to subjugate the Lombard 



Chap. VIII. ARNOLD OF BRESCIA SACRIFICED. 189 

cities ; some of them, indeed, welcomed him, while others, 
among them proud Milan, defied him. Chiesi, Asti, and Tor- 
tona were made to feel his cruel hand as a conqueror. The 
Romans offered to sell him the sovereignty in their city ; but 
he reduced them to subjection by force, "giving them iron 
instead of gold." Obtaining possession of their leader and 
prophet, Arnold of Brescia, he delivered him to the pope as a 
part of the price of his coronation, and Adrian consigned him 
to the stake. But the arrogant pope, upon his entrance into 
the city, required Barbai-ossa, like Lothaire, to hold his stirrup. 
After some resistance, P^rederick consented; and on June 18, 
1155, a few hours after Arnold of Brescia was burned, received 
the crown of the Caesars. On the same day the Roman peo- 
ple fell upon the emperor in fury, at the bridge of the Tiber; 
and young Henry the Lion only rescued him at the hazard 
of his own life. He was attended with like faithfulness on 
his return, though nearly all the cities of Italy, embittered by 
his treatment of Tortona, strove to impede his march ; and 
the brave sword of Otto of Wittelsbach cut a way for him 
through the narrow pass of the valley of the Etsch above 
Verona. 

§ 8. After his return (1155), Barbarossa severely punished 
all breaches of the peace, and watched over the public securi- 
ty. He suppressed and chastised the robber knights, who had 
grown bold during his absence, and abolished unjust levies 
of tolls on the highways. Above all, he took pains to attach 
to himself still more closely Henry the Lion. At Ratisbon, 
in 1156, he carried out his agreement to restore to him the 
dukedom of Bavaria, compensating Henry of Austria by ele- 
vating Austria also to the rank of a duchy, and making it in- 
dependent of Bavaria. Thus the Welfs were re-established 
in power; Henry the Lion now possessed the two most im- 
portant dukedoms of the empire, apparently without danger 
to the emperor, since the young hero's ambition was occupied 
with other projects. He had already been engaged in con- 
flicts with the neighboring heathen, the Wends of Mecklen- 
burg and Pomerania, while Conrad HI. was busy with his 
crusade. And to these countries he turned his attention now. 
He conquered and colonized Mecklenburg, introducing Saxon 
noblemen, and founding Saxon villages. He built Lubeck 



190 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

entirely anew, and soon made it the most powerful German 
city on the Baltic. Here lay a vast field of activity before 
him, which the Saxon emperors had opened to German enter- 
prise, and on which he could compete with his powerful rival, 
Albert the Boar. The popular songs of Lower Germany cel- 
ebrated these two, with Frederick Barbarossa, as three he- 
roes who could upturn the world. Frederick had no dispo- 
sition to disturb Henry in these enterprises, which promised 
to extend his own empire ; and he even took that prince with 
him in his later expeditions to Rome. In the year 1156, 
Frederick married Beatrice, the only daughter of Count Rein- 
aid of Burgundy, a beautiful and wealthy heiress, who added 
largely to his family possessions. 

§ 9. A dispute with the pope, together with the still un- 
settled condition of the Lombard cities, made it necessary 
again to march to Rome. The pope spoke of the empire as 
his beneficium, and this was understood to be a claim that it 
was held as his fief, and was resented as an insult by the em- 
peror and the nobles. A picture was placed in the Lateran, 
representing Lothaire II. on his knees before the pope, with 
a legend declaring that the imperial crown was now ac- 
knowledged to be the gift of the holy see ; and Adrian IV. 
disregarded Frederick's request that it be taken down. Fred- 
erick led a magnificent army over the Alps, in July, 1158, 
humbled Milan, starving it out in a short siege (September 
7), and held his field-day at Roncaglia, with greater splen- 
dor than ever before. He summoned thither the learned 
Italian lawyers from the universities, which were then at the 
height of their prosperity. These men had now brought out 
of the dust of oblivion the ancient Roman law ; and Fred- 
erick, learning that its tenor .strongly favored the imperial 
dignity and power, called upon them to decide by it his 
claims upon the cities. This was the first step toward the 
introduction into Germany of the Roman civil law. They 
acknowledged that Frederick possessed all the rights of the 
later Roman emperors, as their successor ; and thus the cities 
lost the freedom of choosing their own magistrates, which 
they had long claimed and exercised. The emperor also re- 
claimed a large number of royal dues (regalia) ; and abso- 
lutism, in its extreme, was declared to be the constitution of 



Chap. VIII. THE ITALIAN CITIES EEDUCED. 191 

the empire. The cities were put under imperial plenipoten- 
tiaries or Podestas, most of them Germans, who were almost 
unlimited in power. The people submitted reluctantly : a 
fierce insurrection at Crema, and the bloody severity with 
which the emperor punished it, showed how bitter the en- 
mity was. The emperor also took possession of the inherit- 
ance of Matilda, and conferred it on Welf, the uncle of Hen- 
ry the Lion, without the pope's consent — a new cause of dis- 
pute with the holy see. Adrian IV. threatened him with 
the ban, but died before it was pronounced. Nine imperial- 
ists among the cardinals elected Victor IV. ; but the four- 
teen others chose Alexander III., an energetic, zealous prel- 
ate, of the stamp of Iliklebrand, who was supported by pub- 
lic opinion in the Church, and recognized by France and 
England. He laid Frederick under the ban, and gave all 
possible aid to the cities. Meanwhile Milan revolted again. 
Frederick's rage against this, the chief of the Italian cities, 
was unbounded, and he prosecuted the war against it with 
barbarous cruelty. After a long siege, the city was reduced 
by starvation, in March, 1162. The citizens and their mag- 
istrates marched out in the garb of penitents, with ropes 
around their necks, ashes on their heads, and crosses in their 
hands ; and when their banner, the symbol of their municipal 
freedom, was lowered from the great car (cr/rroccv'o), they all 
fell upon the earth, pleading for mercy. But there was no 
pity in Frederick's eye. He declared that " Milan must 
be made a desert, and its people henceforth must till the 
ground." He utterly destroyed the city, by the hands of its 
Italian enemies, the people of Lodi, Pavia, and Como. All the 
other cities now submitted in terror, accepting the Podestas 
of the emperor, and Italy seemed to be subdued. 

§ 10. After his return to Germany, Fredeiick made anoth- 
er step in the extension of German influence. He took ad- 
vantage of a dispute concerning the inheritance in the royal 
house of Poland to separate Schleswig from Poland ; and 
the Poles gradually, under the influence of this newly estab- 
lished branch of their own dynasty, the Piasti, were pene- 
trated by German civilization. He also punished the city 
of Mayence for a disturbance in which the archbishop Ar- 
nold was slain, by destroying its fortifications, and declar- 



192 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

ing all its inhabitants forever dishonored. But in October, 
1163, Frederick was again called to Italy, though this time 
without an imperial army. His antipope, Victor IV., died at 
Lucca in 1164 ; and the emperor still refused to be reconciled 
to the powerful Alexander III., and set up Pascal III. as an- 
tipope. But the general discontent with the imperial Podes- 
tas and the German supremacy broke out anew in the cities ; 
and, under the lead of Venice, the most powerful cities of 
Northern Italy, including Padua, Verona, Vicenza, and Tre- 
viso, united in a Lombard confederacy. Pope Alexander III. 
was active and successful with his embassies in reconciling 
with one another the cities whose feuds had been Barbaros- 
sa's strength and opportunity in Italy, and in uniting them 
in defense of their common freedom. The emperor had but 
a few Italian troops, whom he could not trust, and returned 
to Germany to collect an army. Pope Alexander returned 
in 1166 to Italy, and the Lombard confederacy, in his honor, 
and in defiance of the emperor, built the city of Alessandria. 
Brescia and Bergamo soon joined the league, as did ulti- 
mately even Cremona and Lodi, though only under compul- 
sion. 

§ 11. In October, 1166, Frederick entered Italy for the 
fourth time, in command of a great army, and marched vic- 
toriously to Rome, where, in 1 167, he enthroned Paschal III. as 
pope. But here a pestilential fever carried oif the best part 
of his army, while all Northern Italy, embittered by the op- 
pression of his German deputies, rose in rebellion. The em- 
peror was compelled to retreat northward in haste. The 
inhabitants of the other cities formally escorted the people 
of Milan back to its ruins, April 27, 1167, and joined with 
them in the work of rebuilding it, in defiance of the imperial 
decrees. Meanwhile, occupying the friendly city of Pavia, 
Frederick pronounced the ban of the empire upon the con- 
federacy. But he was so far fi-om being able to put his edict 
in force that he narrowly avoided capture, escaping from 
Susa over the Alps with only five attendants. His losses 
were so terrible that he rested six years before renewing the 
enterprise. Meanwhile the affairs of Germany busied him 
again. Henry the Lion had become so powerful in the north, 
by his conquests over the Wends in Holstein, Mecklenburg, 



Chap. VIII. GUELPH AND GHIBELLINE. I93 

and Pornerania, that he ventured to claim an immediate 
right of sovereignty over the Xorth German bishops and 
counts, who were, indeed, subordinate in rank to liim, as Duke 
of Saxony, but were not his subjects. He used to say in liis 
pride, as was reported, " From tlie Elbe unto the Rhine, 
from ocean to the Ilartz, is mine." The inferior nobles con- 
spired with his former enemy, Albert the Bear, against Henry. 
Earbarossa wished to interfere in Henry's favor; but before 
he could do so, that prince had already triumphed over his 
opponents. Henry's power was firmly established, and he 
went on a crusade to Jerusalem, where his wonderful advent- 
ures became the theme of many a legend. P"'rederick's sway 
in Germany was undisputed, and he cared little for the con- 
tinued hostility of Pope Alexander HI. Upon the death of 
his antipope, Pascal, in 1168, he set up another, called Calix- 
tus HI., who was never recognized even by the whole Ger- 
man Church. In 1164 he procured the election of his son 
Henry, then five years old, to be his successoi'; and on Au- 
gust 15 he was duly crowned at Aix. In the succeeding years 
Frederick rapidly aggrandized his family, by granting to his 
sons large fiefs which became vacant. 

§ 12. At last, in 1174, Fi'cderick, with a strong army, made 
his fifth expedition to Home. His faithful warrior, Christian, 
Archbishop of JNIayence, went before him, but was checked 
by the desperate resistance of Ancona, while the emperor 
himself halted at Alessandria, now a powerful city, which he 
failed to capture. Time went on without a decisive result, 
until in 1175 Frederick was driven to his last resort, and 
urgently summoned Henry the Lion to Italy. But Henry 
was too much occupied with his enterprises in the North; 
and, besides, was ofl:ended that his aged uncle Welf had made 
the emperor his heir. The pope, too, whose policy it was, as 
in the time of Henry TV., to set the power of the nobles 
against that of the king, probably had an influence in weak- 
ening his allegiance. He came at last to Chiavenna, but 
without an army, and made use of every pretext to avoid 
service. The emperor finally fell at his feet, beseeching his 
aid ; but though Henry, in terror, raised him up, he was still 
implacable. And thus Guelph and Ghibelline parted once 
more, and Frederick reserved his wrath for a more suitable 

O 



1 94 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book 11. 

time. He was now compelled to risk a decisive conflict 
with diminished forces. The army of his foes, the cities of 
Italy, was now for the first time fully imbued with the spirit 
of national independence. This feeling was directly opposed 
to the conception of the empire, which, in claiming suprem- 
acy over Christendom, appealed only to the unity of the 
Christian faith, and did not concern itself with the natural 
rights of nations. The fervent zeal of the Italian youth, that 
thronged to the standard of the carroccio, gained its first 
victory over German valor at Legnano, May 29, 1176; and 
the effort to destroy the freedom of the Italian cities, to 
which Barbarossa had devoted his genius and the strength 
of Germany for a quarter of a century, was made hopeless in 
a day. Frederick himself was reported dead, and did not re- 
join his army until three days after the battle. 

§ 13. After the battle of Legnano, Barbarossa entirely 
changed his policy, showing his greatness in defeat by aban- 
<loning projects which proved unattainable. He gave up 
the cause of the antipope, negotiated with Alexander III., 
and in the next year, 1177, met him in Venice. The emperor 
fell at the feet of St. Peter's successor ; but the pope took 
him in his arms, with the kiss of peace. The ban was re- 
moved from him, and Alexander himself negotiated an ar- 
mistice with the Lombard cities for six years. The Peace 
of Constance, in 1183, was the ultimate result, by which 
Frederick gave the cities the exclusive choice of their own 
public ofticers and the control of their internal affiiirs, re- 
serving his imperial sovereignty. Thenceforth the Italian 
cities were little republics, with but the shadow of the em- 
pire over them. 

§ 14. In 1178 Frederick returned to Germany, and was 
crowned King of Burgundy, at Aries, in July. Many of the 
German nobles now brought complaints of wrongs which 
Henry the Lion had done them in his days of power. Fred- 
erick summoned him to appear, naming successively three 
days, at Worms, Magdeburg, and Goslar ; and since he failed 
each time to obey, the emperor, in 1179, declared him under 
the ban. In 1 1 80 Frederick gave the dukedom of Bavaria 
to Otto of Wittelsbach, who had rescued him in Italy, and 
that of Saxony to Bernard, son of Albert the Bear, who was 



Chap. VIII. HENRY THE LION HUMILIATED. 1 95 

now dead. In this he followed his policy of dividing the 
great dukedoms as far as possible, since he justly appre- 
hended less danger of revolt against the unity of the empire 
from minor princes than from great ones. On the same prin- 
ciple, he made the high clerical sees of Bavaria, Salzburg, 
Passau, and Regensburg independent, and increased their 
importance. He also elevated Meran (the Tyrol) and Styr- 
ia to independence. The duchy of Saxony almost disap- 
peared in a number of distinct dominions, mostly ecclesias- 
tical, which were carved out of it ; and the name of Saxony, 
with the title of Duke, was assigned to the eastern district 
alone, under Bernard's family, with their residence in Wit- 
tenberg. Henry the Lion had purposed to occupy his own 
hereditary possessions — those of the Welf family — and resist 
the empire ; but Barbarossa marched into the heart of them. 
Liibeck was detached from Henry's cause by making it a 
free city -of the empire. The inferior nobility of Henry's 
dukedom, whom he had always treated with arrogance, and 
especially the clergy among them, now rose against him, and 
the Lion was compelled to humble himself at last. He ten- 
dered his submission at a Diet in Erfurt, in November, 1181. 
The emperor forgave him ; yet the judgment he pronounced 
upon him in the council of the nobles was seveie enough. 
Henry retained only his family inheritance, the estates of 
the Brunos, Billings, and Nordheims, afterward known as 
the Brunswick-Ltineburg lands, and was banished for three 
years. He went to England, to King Henry H., his father 
in-law. 

§ 15. Frederick had re-established his power. A great 
festival which he held in Mayence, in May, 1184, was a mag- 
nificent expression of his dignity. The flower of that age 
of knighthood assembled there — princes, bishops, and gentle- 
men, foreign embassadors, minstrels, and the people of all 
ranks flocked together. There were said to be seventy thou- 
sand mounted men present. The sti'oke of the emperor's 
sword was to announce the majority of his two eldest sons; 
and the full splendor of the emjjire, now once more peace- 
fully united, was to be exhibited to the world. A movable 
city of many-colored tents was erected on the beautiful 
shore of the Khine, for Mayence could not contain its guests; 



196 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

an improvised imperial palace and a 2>retty chapel rose in the 
midst. The emperor, still a handsome man, noble in form 
and bearing, sat enthroned amid all this magniticence. He 
even rode in the lists, to show his fitness for knightly service. 
The feast was further adorned by the presence of his kindly 
and gracious wife, and his five handsome sons, Henry, the 
eldest of them, already sharing his lather's crown. The min- 
nesingers of that day compared the scene with the fabulous 
camp of King Arthur. Thus the evening of Barbarossa's 
heroic life was filled with peace and power. He once more, 
and for the sixth time, marched to Italy, in 1184 ; and now, 
being in harmony with the pope and the cities, was every 
where, even in Milan, received with reverence. On January 
27, 1186, he married his son Henry to Constance, the only 
child of William H., the Norman King of Sicily. By this 
alliance he won for his house all that he had lost in North- 
ern Italy; but to the empire it proved an injury rather than 
a benefit, and gave the pope new grounds for fear and hos- 
tility. 

§ 16. Meanwhile Christendom was shocked by the tidings 
that Jerusalem had been conquered again by Saladin, the 
Sultan of Egypt. Richard the Lion-hearted of England, and 
Philip Augustus of France, at once assumed the cross, and 
Frederick I., deeply regretting that he had not chosen Asia 
instead of Italy for his earlier enterprises, followed the ex- 
ample. In Germany, he delegated the royal authority to his 
son Henry. In order to secure quiet, Henry the Lion was 
once more sent away to England. Frederick then, in May, 
1189, with a well-equipped army of 30,000 men^marched un- 
der many difficulties to Constantinople, and across the hot, 
desert highlands of Asia Minor. The Sultan of Iconium 
strove to arrest his advance, before his capital city. Fred- 
erick attacked at once the army and the city, defeating the 
one and capturing the other. False tidings were brought 
him that his son was dead. " Woe to me," cried he ; " is my 
son dead ?" and his white beard flowed with tears. " My son 
is slain, but Christ lives still : foward, then, soldiers !" At 
last he reached Cilicia, and the river Seleph (Calicadnus), 
near the Cydnus, which long ago endangered the life of Alex- 
ander the Great. The stream was swollen by rains, and in an 



Chap. VIII. DEATH OF BARBAKOSSA. 197 

attempt to cross it, or perhaps while bathing, he was car- 
ried away by the flood, and only his corpse was rescued, 
June 10, 1190. His followers, in deep aftliction, brought him 
to Antioch. His worthy son Frederick died soon afterward. 
Many of the Germans then returned liome ; many had al- 
ready sunk under the fatigues and perils of the way, and 
only a pitiful remnant joined Richard Coeur de Lion and 
the King of France before tiie walls of Accon. Indeed, the 
whole crusading army was in despair at the loss of the great 
warrior, and the utter failure of the enterprise soon followed. 

No German emperor has taken a more enlarged and liberal 
view of his own position than Frederick Barbarossa. His aims 
sometimes went far beyond what was practical, but his ef- 
forts were magnificent, and his influence on his peoi)le during 
his last years was elevating and ennobling, ^^^he most flour- 
ishing period of the Germans, in morals, poetry, culture, and 
in their ha])py, popular life, dawns in his day ; and he has al- 
ways remained the emblem of German greatness, song and 
legend ever asserting that he did not die : he is sleeping a 
long sleep in Kyfl'hauser, and in his time will come forth, to 
renew the ancient glories of his empire and his people. Pa- 
triotic poets find the fulflllment of this dream in the events 
of January, 1871. 

§ 17. Frederick I. ruled in Germany with a hand so strong 
that the former opposition of the nobles to the crown seemed 
to have been suppressed. But it awoke in full strength at 
the sudden news of his death. Henry the Lion returned 
soon after the emperor's departure, and now again seemed to 
aim at becoming the leader and guide of all malcontents. He 
seized his family lands with violence, and formed an alliance 
with Richard L of England, and with the Danish king. Thus 
great dangers threatened the young emperor, Henry VI. He 
was now twenty-five years of age, and had the vigor and lofty 
intellect of his father, but not his noble spirit. His soul had 
but one passion, that for power. In his youth, he had him- 
self taken his place among the knightly minnesingers, but 
when he became sovereign, every more gentle tendency in him 
gave Avay before a cool, severe policy, which did not shrink 
from cruelty to secure its ends. Yet he was an upright mas- 
ter to the poor, while severe to the rich and powerful. Henry 



198 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book II. 




Heury VI. (1190-1197). 



was already on the point of marching to Italy, to take pos- 
session of the Norman kingdom, in the right of his wife Con- 
stance, when he heard of his father's death. He, however, 
marched to Rome, where he was crowned by Pope Celestin 
III., in 1191. His entrance upon his government in Italy was 
not easy. The Normans rejected his sovereignty, and set up 
in his place Tancred of Lecce, an illegitimate son of the late 
king, William II. Sickness and the failure of a siege of Na- 
ples compelled Henry to return to Germany, where similar 
dangers from rebellion were growing greater every day. But 
the current of fortune soon turned. Richard Coeur de Lion, 
who in the Holy Land treated all German crusaders with 



Chap. VIII. RICHARD THE LION-HEART A PRISONER. 199 

extreme arrogance, and steadily gave his support to the 
enemies of the emperor, had thus long been regarded as a foe 
of the empire. But while he was traveling through Germany 
in disguise, with the intention of forming a closer alliance 
with Henry the Lion, he was taken prisoner by Leopold of 
Austria, and handed over to the emperor (1193), who de- 
termined to make use of him in order to force his enemies to 
peace, and therefore refused to release him, except on pay- 
ment of an enormous ransom, and the acknowledgment of the 
emperor as his feudal lord. The King of France made Henry 
large promises if he would give up to him Richard, his chief 
enemy. Henry hesitated a long time, until an unexpected 
event solved the difficulty. A son of Henry the Lion had 
been betrothed to Agnes, of the Staufen family, a daughter 
of Conrad, uncle to Henry VL, in the good old days when 
the two families were in harmony. But the emperor had now 
resolved to sacrifice her to his schemes, and to marry her to 
the King of France. Both Agnes and her mother preferred 
the knightly Welf, and they contrived a secret marriage with 
him. The emperor, though at first indignant, could not undo 
what was done; and this union became the cause not only 
of peace between the two families, but also of the release of 
Richard, who, after paying a heavy ransom, was set at liber- 
ty, in response to the request of nearly all the nobles. But 
Henry the Lion, again in possession of his estates, lived in 
quiet. He had made much history by his sword, but hence- 
forth his delight was in the reading of old chronicles and 
minstrelsy, until he died, in his castle at Brunswick, August 
6, 1195. He was unquestionably a great man, who worked 
for the enduring welfare of Germany ; and whose fame would 
have been much wider but for his conflict with Barbarossa. 

§ 18. The emperor meanwhile went to Italy again. He this 
time obtained possession of his kingdom with little difficulty, 
and was crowned at Palermo in December, 1 194. He put out 
the eyes of Tancred's son, and mutilated and tortured many 
of his adherents; showing, in the suppression of all resistance 
to his power, a cold cruelty unsurpassed in history. Henrj- 
then returned to Germany, hoping to make the throne hered- 
itary in his house. In exchange for this concession, he oftered 
to secure to the nobles the right of hereditarv succession in 



200 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

their fiefs, not only in the male line, where it was already es- 
tablished, but also in the female line and to collateral heirs, 
in case of the failure of direct issue. Most of the princes ac- 
cepted the plan, but the Saxons firmly opposed, and defeated 
it. But the emperor succeeded in securing the election of 
his son as his successor (1196). Soon after this an insurrec- 
tion in Sicily called him away again. This was easily sup- 
pressed, and was punished by him with extreme severity, and 
even cruel vengeance, Henry exercising his own ingenuity 
in devising horrible tortures and forms of death for his pris- 
oners. His projects of universal empire grew ever bolder and 
more comprehensive. He undertook to treat France as a 
fief of the empire ; and coveted the Spanish kingdoms, espe- 
cially Castile. He boldly demanded of the Greek Empire of 
the East that it should cede to him, as included in his Norman 
heritage, large parts of Epirus and Macedonia. He looked 
upon the conquest of Constantinople as a preliminary to a 
new crusade, for which German multitudes were already 
streaming into Lower Italy. But death cut short his vast 
schemes. He died suddenly at Messina, September 28, 1197, 
at the age of thirty-two, ^.nd the dream of a German univer- 
sal empire was buried in his grave. 

§ 19. Just before the emperor's death, as legends tell, there 
was seen along the Rhine the giant form of Dietrich of Berne 
denouncing misfortune to the empire. And swift and terrible 
was the ruin that followed such magnificence. For the third 
time the crown of the empire, at its height of power, fell 
to a child, as at the death of Otto II. and of Henry II. ; 
for Henry VI. left his widow, Constance, with a boy, Fred- 
erick, three years old. Philip, the only surviving son of Bar- 
barossa, was on the point of conducting the child from Italy 
to Germany, in order to be crowned at once, when the news 
of the emperor's death reached him. He could not now be 
confident that the boy Frederick would be recognized ; and, 
anxious to keep the crown in his house, he consented to his 
own election by his followers. But the numberless enemies 
of his family and of a strong empire, with the Archbishops 
of Cologne and Treves at their head, resisted him, and ele- 
vated to the throne at Aix the Welf, Otto IV., son of Henry 
the Lion, who was probably supported by foreign influence, 



Chap. VIII. TWO CLAIMANTS FOR THE THRONE. 201 






Philip of Suabia (1197-120S). 

especially by Richard of England and the pQpe. Philip was 
elected at Miihlhausen in Thuringia. Thus there were again 
rival emperors, and civil war arose in Germany, just at the 
time when the learned and gloomy Innocent III. (1198-1216), 
next to Gregory VII,, the mightiest and most aspiring of all 
the popes, assumed St. Peter's chair. This pope claimed the 
right of deciding between the two elections, and he declared 
for Otto, and put his rival, Philip, under ban. But Philip 
fought bravely for his crown. He had inherited his father's 
aspiring mind, with the knightly spirit, the handsome figure, 
and the poetic turn of his race, and without his brother's 
harshness. His entire reign was occupied by the war against 
Otto ; the cries of" Welf" and " Waibling " again resounded 



202 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



BuuK II. 



far and wide. Both men lavished the crown dominions on 
seeming friends. But the Hohenstaufen was victor at last, 
taking Cologne, "the Roman Church's faithful daughter!" 
(1206). Otto was acknowledged nowhere but in Saxony. 
But Philip was killed at Bamberg, June 21, 1208, by Count 
Otto of Wittelsbach, as some assert, by accident, but more 
probably in revenge for an imagined injury. 

§ 20. The sudden death of Philip threw all Germany into 
confusion. In the panic which followed, his widow died of a 
premature confinement. Fi-ederick, Henry VI.'s son, was far 
away in Italy, a mere boy. There was therefore no organized 
ojjposition left to the accession of Otto IV. ; and in Novem- 
ber, 1208, he was chosen king at a Diet at Frankfort, His 
first act was to punish the murderer of Philip and his sup- 
posed accomplices. He then betrothed himself (May, 1209) 




Otto IV. (1197-1215). 



Chap. VIII. FREDERICK II. INVADES GERMANY. 203 

to Beatrice, the surviving daughter of Philip, in order to 
conciliate the Hohenstaufen party in the empire. He was 
soon strong enough to make an expedition to Rome. But 
while he had hitherto been a Guelph (Welf), as the name of 
his house indicated — that is, a partisan of the pope — he was 
still unable to make sure of the permanent friendship of In- 
nocent III., from whom he received the imperial crown of 
Rome, September 27, 1209. In the name of the empire, and 
on the ground of his own descent from the house of the Welft;, 
he claimed the possessions of Matilda, which he had once re- 
nounced, and wished to rule in the dominions of the Church 
with the ancient authority of the Caisars ; even attempting 
to seize upon the Norman territories, now the heritage of 
young Frederick of Hohenstaufen, as a province of the em- 
pire. Innocent III. then broke with him, and in 1210 pro- 
nounced him under the ban. 

§ 21. Frederick, son of Henry VI., was a youth distinguish- 
ed alike in body and mind. His mother, Constance, at her 
death in 1198, made the pope his guardian, and Innocent HI., 
whose conduct was noble and free irom prejudice, gave him 
an admirable education. In 1211 many of the German princes 
met at Xuremberg, and decided to depose Otto, and to make- 
Frederick king. Otto hastened back to Germany and married 
Beatrice, hoping to draw off a part of the Welf party, but 
she died a few days after the wedding, and the Suabians 
and Bavarians deserted Otto's camp. The pope now fitted 
out Frederick with his blessing and his gold, and the young 
Hohenstaufen accepted the call of the German princes, though 
he had no army, and little to rely on but the adherents of his 
house in Germany, and the magic of his name. Though but 
seventeen years of age, he had been married for two years to 
Constance, daughter of the King of Aragon ; and he left her 
as regent in Sicily; and, in spite of her urgent entreaties and 
the advice of all his counselors not to engage in the jierilous 
enterprise, he crossed the Alps in 1212. Otto's cruelty and 
avarice had stirred up against him, not only his traditional en- 
emies, but many of his former friends. All these joined young 
Frederick, who became master of South Germany, almost 
without a battle. The King of France also aided him ; and 
Otto was persuaded by the King of England to engage in the 



204 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



EouK. II. 




Frederick II. (1215-1250). 

war against France. But he was defeated in 1214 at Bovines, 
and came to liis end in poverty and humiliation at the Plartz- 
burg, May 19, 1218. The son of Henry VI. was crowned at 
Aix, with great state, as Frederick II., July 25, 1215. 

§ 22. Frederick II. had been educated in Italy, and his char- 
acter was entirely Southern, not German. Full of intellect 
and genius, more brilliant, perhaps, than any of his prede- 
cessors, he yet had no patriotic attachment to Germany, and 
thought little of neglecting or sacrificing its interests to those 
of his Norman inheritance, the kingdom of Sicily and Naples. 
Otto IV. had demanded back from Waldemar II. of Denmark 
the territory which he had Avrested from the empire during 
the civil war, and had thus made that prince his enemy. 
Frederick did not hesitate, in order to win the alliance of 



Chap. VIII. POWER OF THE PAPACY. 205 

Waldemar, to abandon to him all the land north of the Elbe, 
including llolstein, Mecklenburg, and Poraerania — districts 
already occupied by German colonists. He owed his throne 
to the pope, Innocent III,, the Great, who, however, died in 
1210, at the summit of his own power and of that of his see. 
The papacy had now become that which the empire origin- 
ally aspired to be, the highest and guiding power in Western 
Christendom. Italy, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, England, and 
the Scandinavian countries all acknowledged, in a more or 
less direct manner, some sort of secular dependence upon the 
pope. Innocent III. had attempted to guard against the res- 
toration of the power of Barbarossa and of Henry VI., re- 
quiring Frederick at his coronation to take an oath that he 
would grant his family possessions in Italy to his young son 
Henry, and would be content with the German crown, so that 
the two sovereignties should never be united in one hand ; 
and that he would make a crusade. Doubtless he made these 
promises without any serious purpose of keeping them. Yet 
for a time he remained at peace with the Church, Ilonorius 
HI., who succeeded Innocent HI. in 1210, being a mild and 
easy man, and Frederick desiring to avoid a quarrel. But 
he made cunning pretexts for postponing his crusade; and 
meanwhile obtained, at a Diet held in Fiaukfort, April, 1220, 
the election of his son Henry, now eight years old, as German 
king. He was himself, with his wife Constance, formally 
crowned b)'^ the pope November 22, 1220, on his first expedi- 
tion to Rome. 

§ 28. During the succeeding years, Frederick II. manifested 
great ability and vigor in restoring to order his Norman king- 
dom. The Saracens had hitherto disturbed Lower Italy with 
their incursions; but Frederick, after conquering them, gave 
them land, and thus obtained faithful soldiers, who did not 
regard the pope's ban. He endeavored, in 1220, to bring 
back to immediate subjection the cities of the Lombard con- 
federacy, which were still under the lead of Milan, but the 
result was only to strengthen them in their freedom and in- 
dependence. In 1227 Pope Honorius died, and was succeeded 
by a nephew of Innocent HI., Gregory IX., who, though 
eighty years of age, was full of zeal for the independence of 
the Church. Pie earnestly enjoined on F"rederick II. to enter 



206 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

on his crusade ; and at length the emperor sailed from South- 
ern Italy, in August, 1227. Throngs of crusaders came to 
join him. But after three days at sea, he returned, under the 
pretext of illness. The indignant pope laid the ban on him, 
and was answered by Frederick in a remarkable circular let- 
ter, sent to many kings and princes throughout Europe, de- 
nouncing the avarice and ambition of the clergy, and calling 
on the nations to unite in throwing off the tyranny of the 
priesthood. Gregory IX. continued to proclaim the terrors 
of the Church against the emperor, who, however, actually 
sailed on his crusade, August 11, 1228, and remained for eight 
months in the East. The pope regarded the crusade of an 
excommunicated king as sacrilege, and sent monks to inter- 
fere with him in Palestine. But Frederick, by personal ne- 
gotiations with Camel, the Sultan of Egypt, obtained a truce 
for ten years, and freed Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and 
Mount Carmel from the presence of infidels. At Jerusalem 
he assumed the royal crown, to which he had an independent 
claim in the right of his second wife, lolanthe, daughter of 
John, the exiled King of Jerusalem. On his return, he easily 
scattered the pope's guards, and compelled him to sign the 
peace of San Germano, and to remove the ban. A quiet and 
prosperous period followed, during which he ruled his king- 
dom of Naples and Sicily with great ability, and substituted 
for the feudal system the outlines of a constitutional mon- 
archy almost without a parallel in medioeval history. His 
court was a home of pleasure, little in harmony with the 
serious spirit of the Church, or even of Christianity. It re- 
sounded with the voices of Sai'acen, Proven9ale, and German 
minstrels ; and the emperor himself, who was master of six 
languages, was eminent among the poets of the court. He 
spent his time between festive amusement and the cares of 
a cunning and far-sighted system of policy, in which Peter 
of Vincis, his chancellor, was an important aid to him. We 
still have a work on baiting falcons, a favorite amusement 
of those knightly days, from the pen of the emperor himself 
§ 24. After Frederick's march to Italy, in 1220, there was 
quiet in Germany. The princes and nobles became accus- 
tomed to have no sovereign, and liked the situation. The 
emperor's son, Henry, was crowned at Aix in 1222, and act- 



Chap. VIII. FREDERICK II. IN ITALY. 207 

ed as his father's viceroy. But he had no prospect of an ear- 
ly independence, since his father was still young. He had 
been wronged, as he thought, by his father, who had broken 
his promise to the pope to give Henry his Norman kingdom ; 
and who, besides, overruled many of his measures. Accord- 
ingly, he strove by every means to strengthen himself in 
Germany; and in 1234 he openly avowed his purpose of re- 
volt, and came to an understanding with the Lombard cities. 
He also won over many of the minor vassals of the empire, 
who feared the great lords. But these princes, urged by the 
pope, took part with Frederick II., who returned to Germany 
early in 1235 without an army, and by his mere presence sup- 
pressed the insurrection. His son was forgiven, but remain- 
ed defiant and impenitent, and was thrown into prison in 
South Italy, where he died in 1242. Having lost his second 
wife, lolanthe, in 1228, Frederick married, July 20, 1235, Isa- 
bella, daughter of the King of England. The cities of the 
Rhine were still devoted to the emperor ; and they, and es- 
pecially Cologne, received and entertained their new empress 
with great magnificence. Frederick assembled at Worms, 
for the wedding festival, all the nobility and chivalry of the 
empire, as his grandfather had done at Mayence. He estab- 
lished peace and good order in the land, and humbled in bat- 
tle the last of the Babenbergs, Frederick the Quarrelsome of 
Austria. His son Conrad was elected king, at a Diet held in 
Spires, in 1237; but the great vassals, by a formal treaty 
executed at the election, secured their rights against at- 
tack. Frederick then went to Italy, and never saw Germany 
again. 

§ 25. The further history of Frederick II. belongs almost 
exclusively to Italy. But his splendid personality assumes 
such importance in general history that we must at least 
trace the outlines of his career. In 1237 he gained a com- 
plete victory over the league of the Lombard cities, at Cor- 
tenuova. But, like Barbarossa before him, he pressed his 
claims too far, and the war continued. Pope Gregory IX. 
again made common cause with the cities, and proclaimed 
the ban upon him. Frederick II., who was personalh' a skep- 
tic, and as free from the superstitions of the media? val 
Church as bis Prussian namesake of five hundred years later. 



208 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

began such a war against the pope and his curses as no mon- 
arch had yet waged. In writings full of flaming eloquence 
he denounced the worldly ambition of the papal see, which 
employed spiritual weapons in its sti'uggles for secular power, 
and pointed out the mischief of uniting the two swords. In 
reply, the pope's bulls compared the emperor to the Apoca- 
lyptic beast, and called him heretic and blasphemer of Christ 
and of all holiness. In this conflict the communities of Italy, 
always too ready for partisan quarrels, were divided into 
Guelphs (Welfs), adherents of the pope, and Ghibellines 
(Waiblinger), those of the emperor. Splendid achievements 
were wrought by the friends of Frederick IL, such as Ez- 
zelino of Ilomano, Prince of Verona, and b)'^ his own sons, 
the knightly Manfred, and the handsome King Enzio, who 
died in Bologna in 1272, after an imprisonment of twenty- 
three years. During the conflict Pope Gregory summoned 
a general council of the Church at Rome, May, 1241. The 
prelates from England, France, and Germany came to Genoa, 
and thence sailed with a strong fleet for Civita Vecchia, but 
Frederick intercepted and captured the ships on the way, and 
kept all the bishops as prisoners for several months. Soon 
after this Gregory IX. died, almost a century old (August 
21, 1241), and, after an interregnum of two years. Innocent 
lY., hitherto the emperor's friend, was chosen pope in 1243. 
It was soon plain that, as Frederick II. had said, "no pope 
could be a Ghibelline ;" and his former friend became his bit- 
terest foe. The new pope fled to France, called a general 
Church council to meet at Lyons, June 24, 1246, and here, in 
1245, pronounced the ban of the Church upon the emperor, 
declaring the throne forfeited, and Frederick II. and his 
house foi'ever unworthy of it. But the emperor was only 
stimulated to greater energy and majesty in his efibrts. 
He summoned princes and people to sustain him against t^e 
unrighteous decree. In Italy the pope continually stirred 
up conspiracies against him, x;ntil, from a mild ruler, he be- 
came almost a tyrant. The time had not yet come when 
the people could oppose the Church. Swarms of mendicant 
monks went through Italy and Germany, preaching hatred 
and rebellion against the emperor. But he continued the 
struggle, with his vigor unbroken, until a sudden illness at 



Chap. VIII. POPE INNOCENT IV. A KING-MAKER. 209 

Firanzuola caused his death, December 13, 1250. He was 
buried at Palermo, where his tomb Avas opened in 1781 ; and 
his body was found clothed in imperial robes, with the crown 
of the Holy Roman Empire on his brow. "Let the heavens 
rejoice, and let the earth be glad," was the exultant cry of 
Pope Innocent IV., on hearing that the emperor was dead. 

§ 26. The emperor's fortunes concerned Germany but little 
for the last fifteen years. His son Conrad, indeed, occupied 
the throne in his name, but his power was insignificant. The 
princes, proprietors, and cities lived on, with no bond of union, 
each guided by his own will. Feuds arose; plunder and 
lawlessness became common. In the year 1241 the Mongols, 
under the successors of Genghis Khan, invaded Schleswig 
from the East. These were hordes of heathen barbarians, 
who had founded under Genghis Khan himself a series of 
monstrous kingdoms, extending from China to the Euphrates 
and the Ganges, and had then conquered Russia. Neither 
the emperor nor the king concerned himself with this danger. 
It was left to the nobles of Schleswig to meet it. These, un- 
der the command of lleniy the Pious, fought a terrible bat- 
tle upon the field of council near Liegnitz; and although 
they did not obtain victory, yet by their obstinate valor and 
heroic death they inspired in the Mongols such dread of 
German warriors that they preferred to turn back. They 
devastated Hungary on the way, and then abandoned all Eu- 
rope except Russia. In 1246, when the pope laid the ban of 
the Church on the emperor, he wrote, with surprising as- 
sumption, to the German princes, " We command you, since 
our beloved son, the Landgrave of Thuringia, is ready to ac- 
cept the imperial crown, that you at once and unanimously 
elect him." The ecclesiastical princes of the Rhine obeyed, 
and, aided by other bishops, set up Henry Raspe as a rival 
emperor. But in the same year he was finally oveithrown 
by Conrad, and died in February, 1247, at the Wartburg. 
A second claimant of the throne. Count William of Holland, 
elected by the spiritual electors in October, 1247, maintained 
himself on the Lower Rhine ; but few regarded this young 
and powerless king; and neither he nor Conrad could dis- 
place the other. Thus the empire was left in a state of 
anarchy at the death of Frederick II. 

P 



210 HISTOKY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

§ 27. The later history of the Hohenstanfens strictly be- 
longs to Italy, and not to Germany. But the German mind 
has always held this splendid and able family in such high 
honor that it seems indispensable to record its fate. The 
pope had declared that this " sacrilegious race " had forever 
forfeited the throne. But Manfred, a son of Frederick II. 
and of Bianca Lancia, born before their marriage, seized the 
crown of Sicily and Naples; and in 1251 his half-brother, 
Conrad IV., being defeated in Germany by William of Hol- 
land, took refuge with him, but died May 21, 1254, at the 
age of twenty-six, leaving one son, Conradin, an infant two 
years old. Now Manfred ruled Naples and Sicily as king, 
to the exclusion of the child Conradin, who was brought 
up in Suabia. ' The pope for a long time continued to offer 
this throne to others; but it was necessary first to conquer 
before he could deliver it. At length Charles of Aujou, a 
younger brother of King Louis IX. (St, Louis) of France, ac- 
cepted it, and was furnished by the pope with money and 
his blessing to take possession. Aided by the treason of 
many of Manfred's noblemen, he gained a complete victory 
over him at Benevento in 1266 ; and Manfred, seeing that 
all w'as lost, sought and found a soldier's death on the field. 

§ 28. Charles of Anjou proved to the conquered land a 
gloomy and cruel king. But the memory of his ancestors' 
glory and greatness gave Conradin, " the young king " of the 
minstrels, with wdiom he often contended in heroic song, no 
rest. At the age of sixteen, he pledged all the estates left 
to his family in Suabia, for means to cross the Alps and re- 
cover his royal inheritance. Accompanied by his friend, 
Frederick of Austria, he, the grandson of a great emperor, 
marched in 1268, with a small force of mercenaries, into Italy, 
for centuries the land of longing and of ruin to German 
ambition. The Ghibellines joined him, especially the Pisans, 
who had long been attached to the empire. In Central Italy 
and even in Rome he was received almost as emperor. He 
defeated Charles of Anjou at Scurcola (1268); but his Ger- 
man soldiers scattered in search of booty ; and, by a sudden 
ambush, the cunning Charles deprived him of his success. 
Conradin and Frederick fled to tlie sea-shore, and were there 
taken by John of Frangipanni, who owed all his fortune 



Chap. VIII. END OF THE HOHENSTAUFENS. 211 

to the earlier Hohenstaufens, and surrendered to Charless, 
who held a court to try them for high -treason. But a 
single knight was found to pronounce for the penalty of 
death ; but though even the French knights murmured that 
the royal youth had been taken in honorable warfare, and 
not in traitorous conspiracy, Charles persisted in putting 
them to death. The scaffold was erected for Conradin in 
view of Naples, and in the midst of the splendor of his own 
hereditary kingdom and of the fairest scene on earth. Con- 
radin threw his glove into the throng. A knight took it up 
and brought it to Peter III. of Aragon, husband of Man- 
fred's daughter Constance, whose descendants afterward ruled 
over Sicily. Conradin then kneeled down, and resolutely 
awaited the death-stroke. Frederick cried out with anguish, 
as his friend's head fell, and called God to witness their in- 
nocence. He then met his own fate, October 29, 12G8. 

§ 29. Thus expired the Ilohenstaufen family. In lordli- 
ness and grace, in personal greatness and renown, it stands, 
perhaj)s, alone in history. Even the Saxon and the Salic 
emperors fall short of it in these respects. But its ruin was 
only the more frightful ; a fall without a parallel, in which 
this dynasty, and with it the glory of the empire, fell from 
the highest earthly greatness within a generation. In sj^ite 
of all its splendor, the internal decomposition of the empire 
had become complete under this house. When the Saxonl 
dynasty expired, the great fiefs or duchies wei'e hereditary;} 
when the Franconian dynasty cx])ired, all fiefs, even the small 
ones, had become so; butat the end of the Hohenstaufens 
these fiefs had become independent principalities. The em- 
perors had been diligent in sjilitting up the great duchies, 
which endangered the imperial supremacy, into small dis- 
tricts, under both clerical and lay lords. Now this disinte- 
gration was general, and as yet without immediate evil con- 
sequences. In extreme need, as at the Mongol invasion, the 
neighbors likely to be next attacked freely rendered their 
aid ; and the valor of its members still protected the union. 
But the collective strength of the German nation no longer 
existed; and six hundred years were to pass before it should 
again meditate common enterprises, and renew the ancient 
empire. 



CHAPTER IX. 

GERMAN CIVILIZATION UNDER THE HOHENSTAUFEN EM- 
PERORS. 

§ I. Influence and Power of the Church. § 2. The Crusades. § 3. Here- 
sies and the Inquisition. § 4. The Order of Knights. § 5. Their Arms 
and Education. § 6. Their Life and its Enjoyments. § 7. The Minne- 
singers. § 8. German Minstrelsy. § 9. The Monastic Orders. § 10. 
Religious Orders of Knighthood. The German Order. § U. The Ger- 
man Cities; their Growth. § 12. Their Administration. § 13. Roman 
and Gothic Architecture. § U. Highways of Trade with the South. 
§ 15. With the North and East of Europe. § IG. Tolls and Robbers. 
§ 17. German Colonization; its Interruptions. § 18. 'Its Progress in 
Prussia. § 19. In Pomerania and Mecklenburg. § 20. East of the Bal- 
tic Sea. § 21. In Saxony, Bohemia, and Silesia. § 22. Along the 
Danube. 

§ 1, During the wild and lawless times of the Middle Ages, 
the Church, as we have seen, was an educating and protect- 
ing power. Its influence extended over the whole life of its 
members, and the highest as well as the lowest bowed in 
equal reverence before its ministers. For trespasses once 
committed, it imposed its penances — alms, pilgrimages, fasts, 
and even scourgings; often requiring kings and great nobles 
to atone for crimes by building churches or endowing monas- 
teries. The pious faith of the age regarded life as intolera- 
ble when cut oif from the Church, whose power of giving or 
withholding the sacraments was held to imply that of open- 
ing or closing heaven to the soul; and thus the ban, which 
cut off its object from the Church, had a fearful significance. 
But more fearful still was the interdict which great offenses 
against the Church brought upon entire cities or countries. 
It put an end to public worship, and to all the ministrations 
of the Church. The bells were silent, the churches closed, 
no priest could follow the cofiin of the dead with the cross 
and with holy song, and even marriages were celebrated in 
the church-yard. The people could not hold out long against 
such terrors ; and ban and interdict were the powerful weap- 



Chap. IX. THE CHURCH OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 213 

ons which made the papacy supreme. At every step in daily 
life the eye of the believer saw the Church before him, in 
a thousand forms and emblems. By the roadside it set up 
the cross or the martyr's shrine, as a call to devotion. It 
placed churches and chapels as well in the throng of the 
bustling street as in the silence of the forest and the mount- 
ain. It built up majestic cathedrals, whose spires were vis- 
ible far and wide. In the sound of the church-bells, in the 
prescribed habit of making the sign of the cross, in the forms 
of morning and evening blessings, in the petitions of the ro- 
saries, in the singing of processions, and in the sacred myste- 
ries of the sacrament, its warnings and invitations were con- 
tinually heard. Numbers of Church festivals were appointed, 
us suggestions of devotion, while adding to the good cheer 
of life. Thus the Church had not only terrors to offer, but 
introduced many harmless and agreeable customs. It is true 
that superstition flourished none the less amid these cheerful 
and often beneficial practices. The passion for miracles knew 
no bounds, and found ever fresh nourishment in new wonders. 
Ancient heathen notions of the gods still lingered in the pop- 
ular mind, associated with the belief in ghosts and magic. 
The delusions of witchcraft were deeply seated in the gen- 
eral belief from the earliest times, and often led to cruel prac- 
tices; although the spirit of the old German laws discouraged 
such superstitions. The mind was tortured bj' the dread of 
hell. Yet the people had in their characters the vigor to raise 
them above even these terrors ; and black as the devil was 
painted, yet in the popular legends he w^as usually the stupid 
and outwitted devil. The Church almost always opened to 
the sick, the pilgrims and the poor, its abundant treasures, 
which gifts and bequests constantly increased ; and was es- 
pecially open-handed in times of distress; but the Church 
itself found in its riches an insidious temptation to riotous 
and unspiritual living, which it did not long resist. 

§ 2. On the whole, then, the Church, in these, its greatest 
and best days, was a power beneficial to the people ; and they 
naturally clung to it. The influence of the hierarchy over 
them was most fully shown in the crusades. It was in 1094 
that Peter the Hermit, of Amiens, visited the holy sepulchre. 
He saw there the shame and oppression which the Christians 



214 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

suffered, after the Turks wrested Jerusalem from the hands 
of the gentler Arabs (1073). While he prayed at the tomb 
of Christ, the day before his departure, he saw, in a vision or 
dream, the Lord himself, who commanded him to arouse 
Christendom to rescue his sepulchre from the heathen. Re- 
turning to Europe, the little, impetuous man, in the garb of 
a mendicant monk, mounted his ass, and traveled through 
the nations preaching the crusade. The pope. Urban II., 
gave his sanction to the holy war, which Gregory VII., in 
his pious zeal, had desired to undertake. In 1095 the pope 
called a council at Clermont, in Eastern France, and made 
an enthusiastic address, exhorting Christians to go to the 
Holy Land. "It is the will of God," was the general shout 
with which his hearers, including many noble princes and 
bishops of France, pressed forward to receive the cross, which 
was worn as a badge upon the shoulder. The agitation affect- 
ed France first ; spread next to the knights of Lombardy, and 
then to the Normans in England and in South Italy, For 
the time, and beyond Lower Lorraine, it made scarcely any 
impression upon Germany, where Henry IV. had fallen out 
with the Church, and the empire was distracted within itself. 
In 1096, an unorganized throng, from all nations, led by Peter 
of Amiens and a French knight called Walter Lackland, 
strayed through Germany toward the East, though but few 
arrived at their destination. They were followed by the or- 
ganized army of crusaders, chiefly French and Normans, led 
by Godfrey of Boulogne, a prince of Lorraine, and a vassal 
of the German Empire. After endless difficulties, Jerusalem 
was captured on July 15, 1099; the sword of the Christians 
was turned with equal severity against Saracens and Jews; 
songs of praise were raised to the Lord on the site of Solo- 
mon's Temple, and Godfrey of Boulogne was chosen. king. 
But his pious heart refused to wear the golden crown where 
his Lord had worn the crown of thorns ; and it was not worn 
until his brother Baldwin accepted it after Godfrey's death 
(1100). This newly conquered kingdom in the East now as- 
sumed the appearance of a colony, receiving every body who 
came in search of fortune; and pious zeal or love of advent- 
ure led many a prince and knight, either alone or with fol- 
lowers, to make a pilgrimage to the holy sepulchre. The 



Chap. IX. THE CRUSADES AND COMMERCE. 215 

cities of Italy — Genoa, Pisa, and Venice — were active in tak- 
ing the control of the new channels of trade. Thus a busy 
commercial intercourse grew up between the rich and artistic 
East and the West, still so inferior to it. Precious fabrics, 
silk stuffs, fine weapons, choice spices, and like articles, were 
sent from the Orient; the Western people soon became ac- 
quainted with these goods, and the gorgeous attire that 
marked the chivalric life of the twelfth and thirteenth cent- 
uries had its origin mainly in this trade. The Christian 
knights learned from the Saracens lessons of valor and hospi- 
tality, and sometimes of magnanimity. AVhon an exile, or un- 
der ban, he perhaps lived at the splendid court of a Mahomme- 
dan prince; andthusgrew up the true knightly relation of mut- 
ual respect between enemies. Even the proud Christian be- 
gan to inquire in what respects he was su])ei'ior, and in what 
inferior to the heathen. Saladin, who in 1187 reconquered 
Jerusalem, by his gentleness, liberality, and generosity, won 
the admiration of Western kings, as well as of German and 
French minstrels. It was especially in Italy that wealth and 
splendor of living increased ; and that country also gained in 
intellectual culture by intercourse with the Saracens. For 
mathematics and medicine were derived from them ; and from 
them were recovered even the writings of Aristotle, who came 
to be regarded in the Middle Ages as the only jihilosopher. 
But with these things the faults of Mussulman culture also 
found their way into men's minds — the love of indulgence 
and mere worldliness. A faithful picture of the Saracen in- 
fluence is given by the merry but luxurious court of Freder- 
ick II. in Sicily.* 

* The later crusades, as far as they are induded in the history of Ger- 
many, are described in their proper sequence. But a chronological summary 
will be useful : 

First crusade, 109G-1099, Godfrey of Boulogne takes Jerusalem. 

Second crusade, 1147-1 149, Conrad III. and Louis VII. ; an unsuccessful 
expedition against Damascus. 

Third crusade, 1189-1192 (after Saladin had retaken Jerusalem), under 
Barharossa, Richard of England, and Philip Augustus of France ; Accon 
taken. 

Fourth crusade, 1203-120."), the knights of France and Flanders, under 
Baldwin of Flanders, capture Constantinople, and found there a Western 
Empire, which lasts till 12G1. 



216 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

§ 3. With the progress in culture, and the new views and 
principles of life thus introduced, a new danger menaced the 
Church. Doubts of the doctrines and discipline of the Church, 
and to some extent of the fundamental truths of Christian- 
ity, appeared among the people, mostly suggested by the in- 
fluence of the East. The Church called every deviation 
from its teachings heresy. Heretical tendencies first became 
prominent in Lombardy, the native land of Arnold of Brescia, 
the first assailant of the oligarchy ; but they soon found 
manifold sympathy in the south of France, and in Germany, 
especially on the Rhine. At the summit of the power of 
the Church, Innocent III. saw such danger in this direction 
that he took up the most severe weapons of the spiritual 
power against heresy. It was then that the Waldenses were 
tortured and slaughtered, and all the frightful tribunals of 
the Inquisition instituted. In Germany, the monk Conrad 
of Marburg oflered himself as a tool of the Inquisition for 
the suppression of heresy ; the same who, by imposing cruel 
penance and tortures, hastened the end of St. Elizabeth of 
Hungary, widow of the Landgrave Lewis VI. of Thuringia. 
After her death, however, he obtained for her a place in the 
calendar of saints. Conrad met the rapidly spreading heresy 
with severe measures ; and delighted in inflicting the terrors 
of the Inquisition with his own hand upon a vast number of 
poor snflerers in Hesse, aided by his gloomy companions, 
Conrad Tors and John the One-eyed and One-handed. At 
length he ventured also to lay hands on people of standing 
and of noble blood ; and then the German bishops themselves 
declared against him, and demanded of the pope his recall. 
But before he could leave Germany, he was slain by the an- 
gry people in 1233, and the Inquisition disappeared from 
Germany forever. 

§ 4. In the ancient German communities there was a dis- 
tinction between freemen and nobles. But the possession 

Fifth crusade, under Frederick II., 1228, 1229. He obtains by cession Je- 
rusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem, and a strip of coast. 

Sixth crusade; St. Louis IX. of France, 1248-1254, proceeds to Egypt, and 
is taken prisoner. 

Seventh crusade; St. Louis dies before Tunis. In 1291, Accon, the last 
Christian possession in the East, is taken by the infidels. 



Chap. IX. THE EQUESTRIAN ORDER. 217 

of greater estates, or the grants of great fiefs, had raised up 
out of these nobles " dynasties," or j^rincely families, who 
formed the high nobility. Many noble families, whose es- 
tates were not great enough to sustain this high rank, volun- 
tarily gave up their standing among the inferior nobility, in 
order to accept that of dependents of the princes. They 
were often charged by the high noblemen or clergy with 
special offices, and were repaid for their services by fiefs, 
which soon became hereditary. They were sometimes bonds- 
men, though freemen often rendered such services. Depend- 
ents who could atibrd to render military service on horse- 
back were much more respected than the poor freemen who 
had not the means to do this ; and during the time of the 
crusades, they, together with the lower nobility, gradually 
grew into a distinct class known as the equestrian order, or 
the knights. Besides the knights, there grew up in the cities 
an order of " citizens ;" and under the knights, an order of 
peasants, many of whom, in the twelfth and thirteenth cent- 
uries, were well to do, active, and capable of sharing in the 
pleasures of the times; but were still, as a class, in servitude, 
and sank more and more under the yoke. Whatever of in- 
tellectual life there was outside of the clergy was found 
almost exclusively among the knights. 

The knight (Kitter, or rider) was ttius a noble vassal, bound 
to his feudal lord in allegiance and dutiful service. To in- 
jure that lord was a felony ; that is, it was lebellion and 
treason. Thus it was allegiance that now took tiie place of 
the ancient passion for freedom among the Germans : an al- 
legiance that implied faithful obedience to death, and even 
to the commission of crime. None but a knight might wear 
in battle armor like his lord's, or be his companion in camp 
and court, and especially in the tournament. Admission to 
this order was a personal honor, conferred with a sword- 
stroke by the prince upon the vassal ; and it bound the re- 
cipient to valor, fidelity, and generosity. As early as the 
twelfth century, knighthood was recognized throughout 
Christendom as making each of its members the equal in 
arms of the highest. The Church taught also as the knight's 
duty certain Christian virtues, correctness in faith, and the 
protection of the weak, of women and orphans. Valor and 



218 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

untarnished honor were assumed as of course. This was the 
character of knighthood, as developed, ahuost precisely in 
the same forms, among the French and Normans, Italians 
and Germans. Their common manners and views of life 
bound the knights of all nations together by closer ties than 
those of nationality and patriotism. 

§ 5. Knights were recognized by their arms and armor. 
A coat of mail, made of rings or scales (harness), covered the 
breast, body, arms, and legs. The armor of metallic sheets 
came into use at a later day. The knight's head was covered 
by the helmet, from which the visor was let down to protect 
his face, and on which gleamed his crest, either a handsome 
feather or a small metallic escutcheon. A triangular shield 
hung on the left arm ; and he carried also a lance and a 
straight sword. Over his defensive armor was worn his 
principal garment, a coat or robe that reached the knees, 
with his arms embroidered upon it. The same symbols were 
borne also on the shield; but it was not until the twelfth 
century that escutcheons or coats-of-arms became general. 

The boy of equestrian rank was brought up under the care 
of the women until his seventh year. He was then commonly 
taken to the court of the feudal lord, where he rendered serv- 
ice as a page until his fourteenth year — that is, he waited at 
table and carried messages ; being constantly taught that his 
highest duties as a knight would be to love God and honor 
ladies. He received at this time his knightly education : 
learning to manage a horse, to draw the long bow, and to 
wield the sword. He practiced wrestling, climbing, leaping, 
and running, for the free development of his strength and 
agility ; and learned to sing and play the harp, and often to 
speak foreign languages. After his fourteenth year he ac- 
companied his lord to the field as his squire, to carry his 
heavy arms and equipment, and to lead his horse. Finally, in 
his twenty-first year, he was made a knight by a stroke with 
the flat side of the sword, given with many formalities; he 
was girt with a sword, and received his spurs, his steed was 
led to him, and thenceforth he was a member of the order of 
knights, and bound by all its obligations. The girls of equal 
rank were also taken in childhood to a court, usually that of 
their feudal lord, and took their place in his train at festivals 



Chap. IX. THE LIFE OF A KNIGHT 219 

and on occasions of solemnity ; they crowned the wine at 
the board, entertained stranger knights, and took oif their 
armor. But in ordinary times they rarely left the apart- 
ments appropriated to the women, where they worked at the 
spinning-wheel and the loom. 

§ 6. The knight's abode was his castle, and this, when he 
was poor, was small and uncomfortable. It was surrounded 
by a ditch with a drawbridge, and commonly stood on a 
steep, bleak height, or in the lowlands among canals and 
swamps. Within it was a court-yard, surrounded by stalls 
for the horses and dogs ; above this was the entrance to the 
hall, the main room of the castle, and the usual tarrying-place 
of the men. Still higher were the women's apartments, and 
over them the tower. Larger castles, especially those of 
great princes, often inclosed much more space, and had as 
many as three courts, in which even knightly sports and 
tournaments were held. 

When the knight was not engaged at court or on a cam- 
paign, life in his narrow castle was lonely and monotonous, 
with little variety save the pleasures of tlie chase, in the great 
forests tilled with game, or an occasional visit, with a hospi- 
table feast in the hall. For in the early days no honorable 
knight lived the life of a freebooter; plunder and highway 
robbery were still accounted disgraceful, and deserving of 
the lialter. Still more dreary and melancholy was his life in 
winter, when the ways were made impassable by snow. The 
approach of spring was longed for, and was welcomed with 
eager delight. " I have seen a green leaf coming on the lin- 
den-tree," was then the jubilant song of the minnesinger; 
and the "soft, sweet summer time" was hailed with glee, for 
now one could go forth, and the cheerful festivals of princes 
and kings began. Therefore the songs of knighthood are 
tilled with praises of the spring, and of the pleasures of the 
court, where proud swords and lovely ladies met, in their 
sports and delights, and splendid tourneys were held. 

§ 7. Thus German poetry, in its first blooming form of 
knightly song, began to grow up with the institution of 
knighthood, dating from the Hohenstaufen dynasty. Since it 
devoted itself mainly to the celebration of love {minne), along 
with the delights of spring and of festivals, it is also called 



220 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

minnesong. It is fresh, tender, and pure, though monotonous, 
like the song of birds — the chant which " the blessed night- 
ingale, that dear, sweet bird," gives out from the flower-scent- 
ed thicket. Such were the songs of Henry VI., and of most 
of his dynasty, down to " the young king," the unfortunate 
Conradin; and such was the song of the greatest of the 
minnesingers, Walter of the Vogelweide, a contemporary of 
Philip of Suabia, whose heart was moved, not by love and the 
spring alone, but also by the woes of his country, and the 
valor of its people. 

§ 8. The Suabian dialect was the foundation of the lan- 
guage used in these songs; and the language, at this stage 
of its development, is called the Middle High-German. It 
begins with the eleventh century, possesses its complete form 
during the first half of the thirteenth century, and lasts, on 
the whole, until the Reformation. During this period, noble 
princes protected, favored, and endowed with gifts the min- 
strels, themselves noble "gentlemen," who wandered from 
court to court through the country, and were welcome guests 
every where. All the Hohenstaufens distinguished them- 
selves by the favor they showed to poetry; and next to 
them the Austrian dukes of the house of Babenberg, espe- 
cially Leopold VII. ; as well as the counts of Thuringia, 
who held their hospitable and gentle court on the command- 
ing height of the Wartburg ; and among them especially 
Count Hermann. Henry the Lion, too, several of the As- 
canii, and a number of others, took the same course. Be- 
sides the minnesongs, there were some skillfully versified 
narratives ; treating, for instance, of Charlemagne's legend- 
ary adventures, of the Trojan war, or of Alexander's victories, 
or describing the wonder land opened in the East by the 
crusades. Thus Conrad, a monk at the court of Henry the 
Lion, sang a song of Roland ; another, named Lamprecht, a 
song of Alexander, and Henry of Veldeke, an ^neid. But 
the greatest of the poets of that age connected their subjects 
with the circle of myths relating to King Arthur and his 
Round Table. Thus Sir Hartman of the Aue composed his 
" Iwein with the Lion," and his " Erec ;" Sir Wolfram of 
Eschenbach his " Percival ;" and Master Godfrey of Stras- 
burg his splendid poem of "Tristan and Isolt." The ancient 



Chap. IX. EARLY HISTORY OF MONASTICISM. 221 

and incompai*able heroic legends were also called to mind ; 
and thus, at last, in the hands of an unknown minstrel, proba- 
bly at the Austrian court, the " Nibelungen Lied," the mighty 
soug of Siegfried's death and Crirahild's revenge, was brought 
into the shape in which it has been handed down to us. On 
the other hand, the life of conflict led by the people of the 
North Sea is described in the poem of "Kudrun," which 
was composed about the same time out of the legends and 
popular songs of North Germany. The times were rich in 
poetry, its most splendid productions appearing during the 
forty years from 1190 to 1230; and its bloom withering 
again as speedily. It was the first flourishing period of Ger- 
man poetry, which was destined to bloom again, in kindred 
and even greater splendor, at the end of the eighteenth cent- 
ury. 

§ 9. The practice of embracing seclusion and an ascetic 
life for the sake of exclusive devotion to religion was known 
in the East in the early ages of the Church, and is even, by 
some zealous writers, ascribed to the influence of tlie apos- 
tles. But it never became a conspicuous feature of Chris- 
tianity until after the time of St. Anthony of Egypt (a.d. 
305), nor was it widely known in Western Europe before 
the middle of the fourth century. Athanasius is said to have 
introduced monkish institutions into Rome (a. p. 341) ; and 
during the same generation they becnme numerous in Pales- 
tine and Asia Minor. St. Ambrose, who died in 397, de- 
nounced the monks as destroyers of humanity ; but St. Mar- 
tin (Bishop of Tours, 373-400), by his preaching and exam- 
ple, led multitudes to embrace a monastic life ; and two thou- 
sand of his disciples are said to have followed him to his 
grave. In the early ages of monasticism, the associations of 
monks and of nuns were voluntary, each governed by its own 
customs, or sometimes without a government ; and it would 
appear, from the decrees of the sixth -and seventh general 
councils, that they then gave rise to abuses and scandals of 
the same nature as in more recent times. But in 529, St. 
Benedict of Nursia founded, at the convent of Monte Casino, 
among the Apennines, the Benedictine order, and promul- 
gated rules of life and government which have ever since re- 
mained in substance the coutrollinsx laws of Roman monasti- 



222 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

cisra. The foundation of all these rules lies in the three 
vows of " poverty, chastity, and obedience ;" and the differ- 
ent orders have been mainly distinguished by the degree of 
strictness with which they interpret these vows. The Bene- 
dictine order remained without a rival for five hundred years, 
and was so numerous that it is said to have contributed 
55,505 saints to the calendar! The great growth of the 
Church in zeal and prosperity, which followed the times of 
Gregory VII., occasioned the formation of other monastic 
orders. The most famous of these were the Franciscans, or 
Gray monks, founded by St. Francis of Assisi, under Pope 
Innocent III., and the Dominicans, or Black monks, founded 
by St. Domingo of Spain. The Franciscans laid great stress 
upon the vow of poverty. They assumed the duty of preach- 
ing to the people, and volunteered to take care of the sick 
and destitute in the growing cities. Their first convents 
were usually built in the narrow, unhealtliy corners and al- 
leys, amid the misery of a crowded city population. Zealous 
love for the Saviour and for suffering humanity long con- 
tinued to inspire them, as it had their master; but they be- 
came degenerate. The Dominicans, also known as preaching 
monks, made the conversion of heretics their special aim, and 
the Inquisition was intrusted to them. Indeed, the most em- 
inent men in ecclesiastical learning arose out of this order. 
Among many other orders of monks, that of the Cistercians, 
founded by Robert at Citeaux, in 1098, deserves mention. 
They wore white clothing, lived simple lives, which re- 
called to their admirers the primitive Christian societies, and 
made their convents a sort of model schools for instruction 
in agriculture, thus exercising a wide influence in favor of a 
better treatment of the soil. There were monasteries in Ger- 
many of this order, whose estates became so vast that, accord- 
ing to a proverbial saying, a Cistercian monk going to Rome 
might spend every night, as far as the Alps, on his own soil. 
St. Bernard of Fontaine, who became a monk of this order at 
Citeaux in 1113, and two years later Abbot of Clairvaux, was 
for many years, by his eloquence and piety, the most influen- 
tial teacher of the Church, and the principal arbiter in dis- 
putes among princes and people. He died in 1153. The 
Premonstrate order was an outgrowth of the Cistercians; 



Chap. IX. THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 223 

it was founded by Xorbert, a canon of Cologne, and cliaplain 
of Henry V,, who, after a sudden spiritual experience, often 
likened to St. Paul's conversion, gathered in the valley of 
Premonstre in 1120 a number of pious followers, who joined 
him in taking monastic vows. They, too, wore white gar- 
ments, and exercised a great and beneficial influence, espe- 
cially in East Saxony and Brandenburg, where they estab- 
lished many religious foundations. 

§ 10. During the crusades, the characteristics of monasti- 
cism and knighthood were combined in the religious orders 
of knights. First of all, for the purpose of caring for the 
sick and protecting pilgrims in the Holy Land, were formed 
the orders of St. John (the Baptist) of Jerusalem, who wore 
a white cross on a black mantle, and of the' Knights Tem- 
plars, whose badge was a red cross on a white ground. 
These consisted chiefly of knights of the Romance peoples ; 
but in the third crusade, during the siege of Accon, a Ger- 
man order was founded, by the contributions of Bremen and 
Lubeck merchants, with the black cross on a white ground 
for their badge. All these knights took the usual monastic 
vows, with that of persistent warfare against the infidels be- 
sides. They soon acquired wealth enough, by gifts and 
grants, to take into their service numbers of squires and 
servants, and even lay knights. Knights of St. John and of 
the Teni])le settled also in Germany, especially in the new 
colonies, such as those in Brandenburg. But the German 
order became by far the most important in German history. 
The second master of the order, the wise and knightly Her- 
mann of Salza, rendered such memorable services to Frederick 
Barbarossa during his crusade and afterward that he was 
made by him one of the princes of the empire. Under him, 
as the Christians lost ground in the East, the order was sum- 
moned to Prussia, to the wild regions about the mouth of 
the Vistula, the scene of the preaching and struggling of St. 
Adalbert, the guardian saint .of Prussia and Poland. This 
missionary was slain by the heathen Prussians in 997 ; but 
as he fell, stretched out his arms in the form of the cross, 
thus in his death imprinting on the land the symbol of Chris- 
tianity. Here the German knights joined the " Brethren of 
the Sword," another order formed of the German nobility, for 



224 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

the purpose of subduing the heathen of Livonia and Esthonia. 
A long war followed, in which the native German population 
was nearly exterminated. The knights subdued the whole 
land, and filled it with German colonists. Finally, all fur- 
ther enterprises in the remote East were abandoned, and in 
1309 the entire order settled in Prussia, founding Marien- 
burg for the residence of their grand master. Thus the Ger- 
man sword and plow together conquered a " Little Germany," 
as it was called, an event which afterward led to others of 
vast moment. 

§ 11. While knighthood was developed and flourished at 
the courts and in the castles of princes and nobles, there 
were flourishing cities in the land in which very diflerent 
views of life were entertained, and another element was con- 
tributed to civilization. The cities were the communities in 
which the ancient German love of freedom was preserved 
and handed down. They became, at an early day, places of 
refuge for oppressed vassals and serfs, and contributed im- 
mensely to the destruction of slavery. We have already 
seen (Chapter L) that the earliest cities on the Rhine, the 
Moselle, and the Danube, grew up about Roman camps and 
colonies. During the great migrations, these once flourish- 
ing outposts of the empire fell to ruin ; but the bishoprics 
founded by Boniface in many of these Roman settlements 
restored them to importance. The building of the great ca- 
thedrals brought together large numbers of workmen, while 
pilgrims flocked by thousands to these holy shrines. Mer- 
chants took advantage of these gatherings, furnished sup- 
plies, and ofiered all kinds of wares ; and thus many of the 
chief cities of Europe owe their early growth to the influ- 
ence of the Church. Li this way arose in the Rhine country 
Mayence, Worms, Spires, Strasburg, Basle, Constance, Treves, 
and Cologne ; in the Netherlands, Utrecht, Ghent, Liittich, 
and Brussels ; in Westphalia and Saxony, Miinster, Osna- 
briick, Paderborn, Minden, Bremen, Verden, Hildesheim,Hal- 
berstadt, and Magdeburg ; north of the Elbe, Hamburg and 
Lilbeck ; in Thuringia, Erfurt ; in Franconia, Wiirzburg and 
Bamberg; in Bavaria, Eichstadt, Augsburg, Regensburg (Rat- 
isbon), Passau, and Salzburg ; in the Tyrol, Brixen and Trent ; 
in Bohemia, Prague ; and in Austria, Vienna. These bishop- 



Chap. IX. GROWTH OF THE CITIES. 225 

rics were founded in part as early as the Carlovingians' time. 
Individual princes also built up cities as residences : thus 
Henry the Lion founded Munich in Bavaria, and Brunswick 
in Saxony. Imperial palaces sometimes became the germs 
of cities, and sometimes they grew up entirely by their own 
energy and the advantages of their situation, under the laws 
of trade. Thus arose Frankfort, Nurembergj Ulm, Nordhau- 
sen, Soest, Dortmund, and many more. 

§ 12, But it was not under a single impulse that these cities 
attained their importance and wealth. In the earliest time 
of the P^rank rulers, a city, apart from the cathedral and the 
episcopal palace, looked wretched enough. The streets were 
unpaved; the houses small and of wood; there were often 
no walls, and in the winter nights the wolves invaded the 
very suburbs. The population consisted almost wholly of 
vassals of the nobles, not of people entirely free ; artisans 
or agricultural laborers, bound to render to the bishops or 
other lords personal services and tribute. These formed the 
conunon peo))k', or the lower class of citizens. But freemen, 
too, even men of knightly rank, came to the cities for safety 
or for gain, and these, mostly as merchants or as proprietoi's 
of land, gradually formed a city nobility, known as patricians. 
The feudal lord of the land was represented by a bailiff or 
count, who usually had a castle within the city, and admin- 
istered the laws and levied the soldiers. This office, for ex- 
ample, was held in the imperial city of Nuremberg, from the 
time of Henry VI., by the noble family of the Hohenzollerns. 
The German cities did not, like those of Italy, grow great in 
open revolt against their feudal lords, but usually maintained 
a good understanding with their bishops and princes, and 
were favored by them ; so that they preserved their rights 
unimpaired for a long time. The internal affairs of each city 
were managed by a council or college of judges or burgesses, 
presided over by a burgermeister, or mayor. The cities were 
divided into quarters; the land they owned was called their 
Weichbild. Judges, councilmen, and burgesses w'cre for a 
long time chosen only out of the citizens of noble birth, and 
were perhaps nominated chiefly by the feudal lord. But the 
common people gradually grew in wealth and importance; 
their dues in services and tribute were disused or remitted; 

Q 



226 HISTORY OF GEEMANY. Book II. 

and with increasing freedom and self-respect came also the 
desire to take part in governing the city. The workmen were 
divided into guilds, according to their trades; and each guild 
kept its organization distinct, attending to the common in- 
terests of its own trade, and carefully excluding every un- 
worthy person, such as a son of an executioner, one born out 
of wedlock, or of Wendish descent. In the struggle between 
the emperor and his princes and bishops, the cities were al- 
most always on his side. The emperors learned at a very 
early period the great strength there was in these corporate 
organizations, and constantly extended by new grants their 
rights and franchises, thus contributing greatly to their pros- 
perity. This was the policy of Henry III, and still more de- 
cidedly of Henry IV. and Henry V.; and even the absolute 
Hohenstaufens, though they took no pleasure in the freedom 
of the cities, were compelled by necessity to follow the ex- 
ample of their predecessors. Manufacturing industry was a 
principal source of wealth in the cities; but the workmen 
were despised by the nobles, and were long deprived of in- 
fluence in their own government. The bishops, above all, 
strove to keep in their own hands the right of judging all 
disputes among citizens; but many of these communities 
either were originally free from the feudal lordship of any 
bishop or prince, or else were made so by special grants. 
These had the emperor alone for their feudal lord, and their 
people enjoyed an exemption from much tyranny and annoy- 
ance. They were called free cities of the empire. 

§ 13. The thirteenth century was one of full and varied ac- 
tivity, and the cities grew rapidly. Their fortifications were 
raised higher, and strengthened with towers and pinnacles, 
and fairer and more comfortable homes were built for the cit- 
izens, although it was only in the following century that the 
full vigor of city life in Germany began. But the piety of 
the times already sought to consecrate wealth and power by 
works done for the glory of God, and therefore churches were 
built at that time with peculiar splendor, and their towering 
spires are still the ornament of the German cities. Thus 
arose a new style of church architecture. The most ancient 
houses of Christian worship in Germany were imitations of 
the Grecian basilicas, and through these had been developed 



Chap. IX. THE GOTHIC CATHEDRALS. 227 

the Roman style, characterized by the semicircular arch over 
every opening. The cathedrals at Bamberg, Worms, May- 
ence, Limbarg, Spires, and Brunswick, the convent church 
at Konigslutter, the minster at Bonn, the church of the mon- 
astery at Paulinzelle in Thuringia, and many others, are in 
this Roman style. But a peculiar style of architecture grew 
up gradually along the Lower Rhine and in Northern France, 
called the Gothic, in which the pointed arch took the place 
of the circular arch. The pillars, nave, and towers now rose 
more boldly, and on narrower supports ; and in this style were 
built the masterpieces of the age. One of its oldest monu- 
ments is the church of St. Elisabeth at Marburg; another is 
the cathedral of Magdeburg ; but its most glorious achieve- 
ment is the cathedral at Cologne, which, having been planned 
for incomparable magnificence, was begun in 1248; but the 
work was broken off about the year 1500, and it lay neglect- 
ed until, at quite a recent period, the sacred bequest of the 
fathers was taken up, and the completion of the great church 
undertaken anev\\ The cathedral at Freiburg, that at Stras- 
burg, projected by Erwin of Steinbach, those at Ulra and 
Regensburg, the church of St. Stephen at Vienna, and that 
of St. Lawrence at Nuremberg, are works of the same style 
and of kindred magnificence. But apart from these sacred 
buildings, the prosperity and wealth of the cities, and the 
hardy, joyous life of that stirring age, were shown in various 
kinds of festivals and parades, of showy customs and displays, 
and even in gorgeous attire and luxury. A memorable ex- 
ample of a city's resources for such purposes was given by 
Cologne at the reception of the imperial bride of Frederick 11. 
§ 14. The German cities became the most important sta- 
tions of a trade that extended far and wide. Such a trade 
arose and flourished soon after the beginning of intercourse 
with Rome, and was hardly lost in the wildest times of the 
great migrations. Lender Charlemagne's universal empire it 
rose to renewed life. Under his immediate successors then- 
was certainly a highway for traffic, from the Rhine, by way 
of Soest, Corvei, Gandersheim, Brunswick, and Magdeburg, 
east'ward to the Sclavonic countries, where ancient Vineta, 
renowned in tradition, was the centre of a lively trade with 
Kiew, and even with Greece and Constantinople. Still more 



228 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

important were the ancient highways which led over the Al- 
pine passes — the St. Gothard, the Wormser, and the Brenner 
— from Italy to Germany. One of these roads, following the 
valley of the Rhine to Constance and Basle,.and then down 
the river to Strasburg, Mayence, and Cologne, receiving im- 
portant branches or tributary roads at the Main and the 
Moselle, ended in the Netherlands, or rather continued across 
" the German Ocean " to England. Another highway led to 
liegensburg or Augsburg, and thence (after about 1050), by 
way of Nuremberg, to the Main and the Rhine, or through 
Erfurt to North Germany, to Magdeburg, Brunswick, Lune- 
burg, Bardewick, Bi'emen, and Hamburg. Still a third route 
ran directly from Constantinople and the Eastern Empire up 
the Danube through Hungary ; and divided, one branch lead- 
ing to Regensburg and the Rhine, a second to Bohemia, where 
Prague was flourishing, and to the North, through Meissen to 
Magdeburg and Brunswick, and a third to Breslau and the 
land of the Wends. Cologne and the cities of the Nether- 
lands — Ghent, Bruges, and Brussels — had the trade of En- 
gland mainly in their hands ; but in commerce and the arts, 
England was then far behind Germany, importing from thence 
almost all luxuries and industrial products, while German 
merchants carried away in exchange raw materials, such as 
wool and liides, from the island so rich in flocks and herds. 

§ 15. Italy had always been in close intercourse with the 
East ; and it was thence, especially since the time of the 
crusades, that the costly goods of the Orient came : silk 
from China, cinnamon from India, spices from Arabia, richly 
wrought arras from Damascus, and the like. The rich and 
proud cities of Italy — Venice, Genoa, and Pisa — derived the 
first advantage from this trade, but the German cities took a 
secondary part in it. They distributed these goods in the 
north, northwest, and east of Europe, and added to these 
their own exports, their woolen and linen cloths, their wine 
and beer — which the North could not produce, yet could not 
dispense with. Liibeck, which since the foil of Henry the 
Lion, who had founded its prosperity, had been a free city of 
the empire, was the chief seat of this commerce, grasping it 
so exclusively and so firmly, as the leader of the North Ger- 
man cities, that the Scandinavians scarcely dared to build up 



Chap. IX. TOLLS AND ROBBER KNIGHTS. 229 

a merchant navy and a trade of their own. The traffic with 
the East and Northeast became extremely active, as the land 
of the Wends east of the Elbe was subjugated, or at least 
opened. Poland, the colonies of the German knights, and in 
part even Russia, became dependent upon German supplies. 
Upon the Baltic Sea, the merchant of Liibeck, Wismar, or 
Rostock, or through his agency the merchant of the interior, 
of Soest or Brunswick, carried his goods to the remotest dis- 
tricts in which the military adventurer or the knight of tlie 
German order had prepared a Avay for German culture. Even 
Dantsic, Riga, Dorpat, and Novogorod were much visited as 
centres of distribution. Thus the foundation was laid for the 
extensive northern commerce which was developed in the 
succeeding age by the Hanseatic league. 

§ 16. From the earliest period in which trade grew to im- 
})ortance, the nobles and proprietors who lived along the 
great highways were accustomed to improve them, opening 
fords, building bridges or causeways, or removing obstacles ; 
and then to charge tolls as a compensation, which were cheer- 
fully paid. But this custom gradually led to serious abuses ; 
and the emperors, while their power was great, often found 
it necessary to put down the exorbitant toll -gatherers by 
force. The weaker the empire grew, the more common be- 
came the practice of seizing and plundering the traveling 
merchants; but the great roads were generally safe under 
the Saxon and Hohenstaufen kings. It was not until the 
fourteenth century that the "robber knights" began to infest 
almost all Germany. Then the merchant could not travel un- 
armed. His goods were carried in large convoys, like cara- 
vans, packed on horses or in large wagons. These often met 
with difficulties, since there were no paved ways, and even 
log roads or rough turnpikes were not general. Armed 
servants accompanied them for a guard. On the large rivers, 
especially the Rhine and the Danube, travel and traffic were 
of course attended with less difficulty. 

§ 17. The power of the Germans had scarcely been re- 
united in the realm of Charlemagne when attempts were 
made to reconquer the region beyond the Elbe, that region 
which the Germans had once occupied, but which the Sclaves 
had wrested from them after the great mic^rations. These ef- 



230 HISTORY OF GEKMANY. Book II, 

forts ended with the fall of the Carlovingian power, to be re- 
newed with the revival of German vigor under Henry I., and 
to be crowned with brilliant success under Otto I. But the 
natural course of German conquest, eastward and northward, 
was then unfortunately abandoned for the sake of Italy. The 
extension of German influence to the eastward ceased for two 
centuries. Yet the Saxons, especially, continued to cherish 
the desire for vigorous advance in this direction ; and it was 
immediately stimulated to activity when Lothaire of Saxony 
ascended the throne of Germany. It was only from the days 
of Frederick Barbarossa and of Henry the Lion, however, 
that the youthful vigor of the German city life began to be 
put forth, almost with the energy of another great migration, 
in the colonization of the Sclavonic East. This movement 
proved eftective in several directions. 

§ 18. The power of the princely family of the Ascanii comes 
into prominence first in connection with the Saxon marches. 
These Avere the North March — that is, the territory now call- 
ed Altmark, in Prussia, on the left bank of the Elbe — and the 
East March, which lay south of Magdeburg, between the 
Hartz Mountains, the Saale, the Mulde, and the Elbe, to- 
gether with Lausitz. We have already recounted the rest- 
less activity of Albert the Bear, first Margrave of Branden- 
burg, the ancestor of this family, who by conquest added to 
the North March (Altmark) Priegnitz and part of Havelland. 
Under him the ancient bishoprics of Havelberg and Branden- 
burg were revived. His descendants ruled these lands with 
great honor until they became extinct in 1320; and acquired, 
besides Altmark, Priegnitz and the East or Middle March, 
also Uckermark, that is, the land from the Ucker to the Oder 
and the Half; and Neumark, or the land adjoining Pomera- 
nia, beyond the Oder, to which was added the bishopric of 
Lebus. Upper and Lower Lausitz, originally fiefs of Bohe- 
mia, also belonged to the Brandenburg territory, and were 
gradually filled with German settlers. By the end of the 
thirteenth century these marches were almost entirely occu- 
pied by German colonists. During the wars of conquest car- 
ried on by the margraves, the ancient Wendish inhabitants 
had been blended with the new-comers, and had nearly dis- 
appeared. The abandoned tracts of land, and a share of the 



Chap. IX. GERMAN COLONIES IN SCLAVONIC LANDS. 231 

estates taken from the conquered, fell to the margraves, so 
that these became lords of nearly the whole soil. They in- 
troduced upon it German colonists from Westphalia, Holland, 
and Friesland. When a village was to be built, thirty or 
forty hides of land, each of about thirty acres, were granted 
to a middleman or agent, who gathered the colonists, placed 
them, and became bailiff or deputy in the new village. He 
collected the lord's dues, which were, however, remitted 
until the laud was subdued, and administered the law in 
minor cases. Cities were founded in suitable places in a sim- 
ilar way, commonly by an association of several agents ; or 
Weudish cities were adopted and transformed into German 
ones. The country was soon filled with German peasants, 
who formed a community almost absolutely free, and diligent- 
ly broke the sod with the plow ; and citizens, busied in trade 
or productive industry, who organized the cities according 
to the ancient Saxon laws, and in imitation of cities already 
constituted, and developed an active social life. Thus Sten- 
dal, Salzwedel, Brandenburg, Havelberg, and Spandau were 
built up; and thus also a twofold city, including Berlin and 
Koln on the Spree, was built, and, further east, Frankfort-on- 
the-Oder, Kiistrin, Landsberg, and others. Berlin received a 
charter from Brandenburg in 1225, but its prosperity began 
in the time of the brothers John I. and Otto IH., the greatest 
rulei's of the Ascanian dynasty. 

§ 19. Near the Brandenburg colonies were those of Pome- 
rania and Mecklenburg, also on Sclavonic soil. The emperor 
Lothaire led a joint crusade of the Poles, Danes, and Saxons 
against the Pomeranians, capturing their cities of Kolberg and 
Stettin, and then Bishop Otto of Bamberg Avas called in to 
convert the heathen inhabitants (in 1124 and 1128). But se- 
cession and revolt threw all into confusion, until Henry the 
Lion, with Albert the Bear and other princes, entirely sub- 
dued the land, almost exterminated the Sclavonic population, 
and colonized it with Saxon noblemen and lowland peasants. 
Along the coast arose the flourishing German cities of Wis- 
mar, Kostock, Stralsund, Greifswald, Wollgast, and Stettin, 
in the course of the thirteenth century. Mecklenburg and 
Pomerania retained a Sclavonic dynasty, but became feudal 
dependencies of Henry the Lion. After his fall, they were be- 



232 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

stowed by the emperor on the Ascanian family, Mecklenburg 
was soon able to throw off its dependence, but Pomerania 
endured it for a long time. 

§ 20. At the same period, Christianity and German civili- 
zation began to take firm root in Livonia and Esthonia. The 
commerce with Novogorod, the point from which the Russo- 
Grecian avenues of trade diverge, was carried on partly 
through Wisby, on the island of Gothland, a city almost en- 
tirely German, and partly by direct intercourse with German 
ports, especially Bremen. Then Riga was built, Dorpat and 
Rewal were conquered, and the knights of the cross finally 
completed the subjugation of these regions, in which thence- 
forth the cities and the nobility were German. In Prussia, 
where the inhabitants were not of Sclavonic descent, but a 
German tribe, Christian of Oliva, then a monk and afterward 
a bishop, toward the end of the twelfth century, took up 
anew the work of conversion, in which St. Adalbert of Prague 
had met his martyrdom. He soon found that he accom- 
plished nothing by peaceful preaching ; and therefore, with 
the aid of Conrad of Massovia, he introduced the German or- 
der of knights. In 1226 came the first eight knights of the 
order, under their commander, Hermann Balk ; and others 
soon followed. They conquered the Prussians in a bloody 
war, and founded here a sovereignty of their own. The land 
was utterly laid waste ; but enterprising men, mostly from 
the Netherlands and Westphalia, built up villages and cities 
in it, just as in the marches. Thus arose Thorn, Kulm, Mari- 
enwerder, Elbing, Braunsberg, KOnigsberg, and Memel ; and 
the whole of the Baltic Sea Avas ringed as with a garland of 
German cities. Their freedom and their German nationality 
protected them, though among enemies and far from home, 
by means of their rigidly organized and close city corpora- 
tions, in which the creative and constructive vigor of the 
German character was remarkably displayed. 

§ 21. The German settlements in Meissen, now a part of 
Saxony, were colonized, in part, from the march of Eastern 
Thuringia, beginning in the time of the Saxon emperors ; and 
in part owe their origin to the princely house of Wettin, 
which settled here. Meissen was the oldest town ; afterward 
arose Altenburg, Zwickau, Leipsic, and Freiberg, the last 



Chap. IX. GERMAN COLONIES IN EASTERN EUROPE. 233 

being mainly a colony of German miners from the Hartz 
Mountains. 

In Bohemia, German settlements were made very early, in 
the times of the Saxon dynasty ; both in Prague, wliere the 
Germans enjoyed extraordinary privileges, and in the mount- 
ainous frontier districts, as at Eger, Leitmeritz, and other 
places. The same stream of North German emigration poured 
in, from the twelfth century onward, which peopled the north- 
ern Sclavonic districts, and cities and villages were founded 
in the same manner. The last Bohemian sovereigns, of the 
house of the Premyslides, strongly favored the German lan- 
guage and poetry, and the culture of the German knights; 
and the Czech noblemen gave German names to their castles 
and sometimes to their families. Prague was more than half 
German, and Ottocar II. even expelled the Bohemians from 
the suburbs, in order to place Germans there. 

Silesia, which was part of Poland, was made an independ- 
ent duchy by Frederick I,, and given to a branch of the 
Polish royal family, the Piasti. These dukes also favored 
German influence, and their fine country was colonized by 
Germans, who built Breslau, Liegnitz, Landshut, Brieg, Glo- 
gau, Oppeln, Reichenbach, and many other cities. German 
laborers were especially in demand in Silesia, Bohemia, Mo- 
ravia, and Hungary, after the incursions of the Mongols and 
their frightful devastations. Great prospects were open here 
for the empire, had the emperor not turned the nation's ef- 
forts uselessly to Italy. 

§ 22. The southeastern colonies were closely connected with 
the march of Austria. From the time of Charlemagne, Ger- 
man settlements spread through the valley of the Danube, 
and extended below Passau. At a later period, Henry of Bava- 
ria, the brother of the Emperor Otto L, did much to extend 
German supremacy in this region. But the Babenberg house, 
which attained the ducal authority in 1156, were the great 
propagators of German nationality in the southeast. Vienna 
grew up under Henry, the first duke, and soon became the 
rich centre of distribution for the Venetian and Eastern trade. 
Afterward the stream of German emigration turned that way, 
and mingled with the original Sclavic inhabitants through- 
out the country to the eastern valleys of the Alps, to the 



1 



234 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book II. 

Karst and to Istria. The extreme frontier of this German 
colonization may be found in the advance posts in the Sie- 
benbiirgen, of Saxon and Suabian origin, though the south- 
ern slopes of the Carpathians were also peopled with diligent 
Germans, chiefly miners. Yet the colonies in the Austrian 
country had less influence than in the north, in the marches, 
and in Prussia; since they were here mingled with the for- 
mer Sclavonic residents, while there they formed a purely 
German population. Both of the great powers of later days, 
Prussia and Austria, were, however, founded upon the colonies 
formed in these early centuries, the one partaking more of 
the peculiarities of the Saxon race, the other of the Bavarian. 
All that part of Europe in which the German language is now 
spoken was occupied by it as early as the thirteenth century. 
The period was a great one for Germany, not only in the 
power of its emperors, but in the vigorous life of its people. 



BOOK III. 

FROM THE GREAT INTERREGNOI TO THE REFORMA- 
TION, 1254-1517. 



CHAPTER X. 

TO THE DEATH OF LEWIS THE BAVARIAN", 1347. 

§ 1. The States of the Empire; the Electors. § 2. The Lesser Nobilitv. 
§ 3. Spread of Local Inde])endence and Lawlessness. § 4. The Interreg- 
num. Claimants for the Throne. § 5. Election of Rudolph of Hapshnrg. 
§ (!. His Successes and Enemies. Ottocar of Bohemia. § 7. Rudolph's 
Administration. § 8. Ciiaracter and Death. § 9. Adolphus of Nassau 
IClected ; he Buys Thuringia. § 10. Is Deposed, and Slain in Battle. §11. 
Albert of Austria Elected; his Character and Policy. § 12. His Rela- 
tions with the Pope and the I'rinces. § 13. His Misfortunes and Death. 
§ 14. Henry VII. of Luxemburg is Elected King. § 15. His Aims. § 16. 
The Crown of Bohemia and King John. § 1 7. Henry VII. in Italv ; 
Guelphs and Ghibellines; Henry's Death. § 18. Lewis the Bavarian Elect- 
ed. § 1 9. Erederick the Fair taken Prisoner. § 20. Lewis makes Erederick 
the Fair his Friend and Associate. § 21. Lewis in Italy; Disj)utes with the 
Pope. § 22. His Unkingly Concessions. § 23. His Efforts to Aggran- 
dize his Family. § 24. Deposition and Death of Lewis. 

§ 1. At the death of Frederick II. it was too late to prevent 
the dissohition of the empire into baronies under feudal lords. 
The ancient dukedoms were broken uj), and the ancient pop- 
ular division into districts (gauen) had also disappeared. 
The lords who, in the prosperity of the empire, had been but 
vassals and deputies of the emperor, were now independent 
governors, whose subordination to the head of the nation was 
l)nt nominal. These together formed the "States of the Em- 
pire," in their several grades or ranks from the highest dig- 
nity down. First of all wore the princes, who final!)' succeed- 
ed in securing the sole right of electing the German king, or, 
as he was afterward styled, the King of the Romans, There 
were seven of these princes, or electors (Kurfursten), as they 



236 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

soon came to be called : three of them spiritual lords, the 
archbishops of Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, and four tem- 
poral lords, those of Bohemia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Branden- 
burg. But in the last three countries there were still several 
families competing for the electoral privilege. The electors, 
and especially the three prelates, derived immense advantages 
from the decline of the imperial power. At each successive 
election they caused new rights and privileges to be secured 
to them by new " capitulations," or covenants, which were 
made part of the proceedings. The royal power was thus 
lessened, so that the emperors were soon destitute of both 
ability and will to serve the general welfare. They directed 
their efforts to founding and extending their personal power 
and family possessions : by seizing upon forfeited or aban- 
doned fiefs, by advantageous marriages, and by all other 
means in their reach. On the other hand, the electors jeal- 
ously guarded their prerogative, and limited that of the mon- 
arch. They often passed over, in their choice, the son and 
heir of the late king, lest the empire should appear to be he- 
reditary or become so by prescription. 

§ 2. Next in dignity to these princely electors were the 
dukes, though they no longer resembled in power and impor- 
tance the former dukes of the people. Then came margraves, 
landgraves, counts palatine, and others of baronial dignity, 
more than a hundred in all ; and, finally, in great numbers, 
knights of the empire — that is, knights who were subject to 
no feudal lord but the king. Besides these secular noble- 
men were the spiritual — the archbishops, the bishops, the 
abbots, dependent on the empire, the commanders of orders, 
and others — also more than one hundred in number. The 
"states" included also the free cities of the empire, of which 
there were already about sixty, and new ones were constant- 
ly added to the list. They were now practically independent 
communities, organized as aristocratic republics. Country 
communities, which retained their freedom in the ancient Ger- 
man style, were now found only in the seven Frisian districts 
on the coast ; and these were constantly threatened by the 
great nobles around them. 

§ 3. The tendency to disintegration extended far beyond 
the purposes of the great vassals of the crown who intro- 



Chap. X. AN AGE OF LAWLESSNESS. 237 

duced it. Just as the imperial power which once controlled 
the whole land was destroyed by their encroachments, so 
they were themselves hampered by their subordinate pro- 
prietors, by the inferior noblemen and clergy, and by their 
cities; those, namely, which were not "free of the empire," 
but still dependent on some great feudal lord. All these 
classes struggled for the utmost attainable independence, and 
the inner history of Germany during the next two centuries 
is essentially a struggle of the greater nobility among them- 
selves for power, and of the lesser nobility and dependents 
against them, for what they called their freedom. The dis- 
position of the Germans from the beginning was to isolation 
and obstinate independence. It had been partly controlled 
by the imperial power since the time of Charlemagne ; but 
it now asserted its strength anew, not, indeed, among the 
peasantry, but in the nobility and in the walled cities. In 
spite of the often-renewed proclamations of public peace, pos- 
itively forbidding the use of violence in enforcing private 
rights, the nobility persisted in the old feudal practice of 
" self-help," j^rosecuting and defending each his own cause 
by arms ; custom only requiring as a preliminary a formal 
notice to the adversary that peace was suspended. But 
the inferior proprietors soon began to claim the same priv- 
ilege; and every knight in his castle, and almost every 
freeman, began to take it upon him to send his formal no- 
tices of hostility. Such feuds, when prosecuted by the bold 
and strong, were of course often mere transparent disguises 
for plunder. As knighthood degenerated, it became custom- 
ary for nobles to live "by the stirrup," that is, by pillage. 
Most of the castles became dens of robbers, places of am- 
bush beside the highways and rivers, from which armed 
gangs fell suddenly upon the peaceful merchant passing by. 
There was no one to punish such crimes, and only by com- 
bining together were the weak able to defend themselves 
against the strong. The end promised to be a war of every 
man against his neighbor. This was the terrible time when 
there was no emperor in the land, the time when might 
made right. The love of order and law was lost, and even 
the sense of German national honor. License took the place 
of liberty, dynastic divisions counteracted the union of tribes, 



238 HISTOEY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

and Germany exchanged her former greatness for utter in- 
significance among the nations of Europe. 

§ 4. After the fall of the Hohenstaufens, the empire re- 
mained without any real head for a long time, though there 
were a number of nominal emperors. This period is called 
" the great interregnum." The death of Conrad IV., in 1254, 
left his rival, William of Holland, sole claimant of the throne. 
He was a handsome young man, and the pope called him 
" our nursling," while his marriage with a Brunswick princess 
strengthened his power. The cities in particular were dis- 
posed to acknowledge him as emperor, after Conrad IV. 's 
death; and in gratitude he gave his imperial sanction in 
March, 1255, to the league which the cities had formed for 
keeping the peace and protecting trade. But William was 
too subservient to the pope to please even the spiritual elect- 
ors, and he never obtained a commanding position in the em- 
pire. The Suabian party never acknowledged him. He un- 
dertook to extend his possessions as count by an expedition 
against the free Frisians; but was defeated, and in his flight 
his heavy war-horse broke through the ice, and he was seized 
and slain by the enraged peasantry, January 28, 1256. The 
German princes were now willing to leave the throne va- 
cant; but the inferior nobility and the cities eagerly de- 
manded national unity and an emperor, and the electors 
could not refuse the semblance of acquiescence. But they 
were resolved upon having nothing more than the form of 
royalty, and no German prince aspired to be a mere shadow 
of a king ; so that they turned their attention to foreign 
princes, believing that a nominal sovereign who had no feud- 
al estates in Germany, and who must reside abroad, would 
exactly meet their wishes. The Archbishop of Cologne sold 
his vote and influence to Richard, Duke of Cornwall, brother 
of the King of England. He was also supported by the elect- 
ors of Mayence and of Bavaria. But the Archbishop of 
Treves, sustained by the votes of Bohemia, Saxony, and Bran- 
denburg, sold his voice to King Alphonso of Castile, a kins- 
man of the Hohenstaufens. Thus arose, in 1257, two foreign 
claimants of the throne. Alphonso never entered Germany. 
Richard came four times, for short visits, lavishly distributed 
the royal possessions, and obtained followers as long as he 



Chap. X. THE ELECTION OF RUDOLPH. 239 

was able to envicli them at his own expense and that of the 
empire. But when his money gave out, on his way up the 
Rhine to Basle, all deserted him, and " he marched back to 
his land by another way," as a contemporary chronicle mock- 
ingly says. To such a depth had sunk the honor of the em- 
pire among its princes. This state of affairs lasted almost 
twenty years; and among its worst eftects was that the 
cities, divided in their allegiance between the two kings, 
broke up the promising league which Conrad IV., by the 
only statesmanlike act of his reign, had acknowledged and 
confirmed. 

§ 5. Richard of Cornwall died in 1272. At once there was 
a general demand for the election of a real German king. 
Indeed, "self-help" and private feuds had become so general 
that social order could scarcely be said to exist. The only 
law enforced was that of the strongest ; and to trust in the 
protection of the government was to court destruction. The 
popes had built up the house of Anjou at Naples; but it 
was growing too strong, and they wished for an emperor to 
check it. Besides, Pope Gregory X. found his revenues di- 
minished by the disorders in Germany, and he desired help 
in a new crusade. Thus the Church sustained and stimu- 
lated the people, who had been accustomed to a strong im- 
perial government for five hundred years, and now deeply 
felt the loss of it. Even the great princes pretended to de- 
sire a ruler who could suppress and punish the outrages of 
which the kingdom was full ; but their real wishes are well 
described by the Bishop of Olmiitz in a letter to the pope 
(1273): "They wish," he wrote, "to obtain through the 
grace of the Holy Ghost a gracious emperor, and through 
the wisdom of the Son of God a wise emperor ; but they ig- 
nore the first person of the Trinity, and power is their ab- 
horrence." At this time Werner of Eppenstein, a wise and 
thoughtful archbishop, ruled in Mayence ; and he saw clear- 
ly what the empire needed. At his instance the electors 
met in Frankfort; and he and the patriotic Burgrave of Nu- 
remberg, Frederick III. of Hohenzollern, secured their votes 
for a plain count in the Swiss country, who was well known 
for his knightly achievements, and strong enough to give 
some character to the office, without causing the princes any 



240 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book III. 



anxiety for their independence. Rudolph of Hapsburg (in 
the canton of Aargau) was now in his fifty-fifth year. Un- 
der Frederick II. he had bravely upheld the imperial stand- 
ard. He was a valiant warrior, full of spirit and resource, 
but in ordinary life simple, pious, and kindly. He was con- 
spicuous by his extremely tall, thin figure, and his large, 
hooked nose. He was recorameoded especially to the lay 
electors, who chanced to be all bachelors,by having several 
daughters, one of whom was promised in marriage by his 
brother-in-law, the shrewd burgrave, to each of them. He 
was unanimously elected in 1273, and rescued society from 
falling: into confusion. 




Kudolph of Hapsburg (1273-1291). 



Chap. X. REVOLT OF OTTOCAR II. OF BOHEMIA. 241 

§ 6. When Rudolph was crowned at Aix, the princes, ac- 
cording to custom, approached the new emperor, to renew, 
by the touch of the sceptre, their feudal tenures and their 
allegiance. But the sceptre could nowhere be found ; and 
there arose a confused dispute as to the validity of the cere- 
mojiy without it. Rudolph instantly seized a crucifix, and 
raised it up, crying, " Lo ! the symbol of our redemption and 
the world's : it secures us heaven, surely it is good enough 
to confirm to us our parcels of earth." Thus every question 
was set at rest by his presence of mind. Rudolph began his 
reign with the usual royal progress, but carried it no farther 
than the Rhine provinces and South Germany. He earnestly 
insisted on the restoration of the imperial rights and property 
which had been alienated since the time of P'rederick TI. This 
was a difiicult task ; but he was supported by Pope Gregory 
X. — whom, at a personal interview in Lausanne, in 1275, ho 
vowed to protect and defend — and by the most powerful of the 
electors; while his own gentleness and wisdom did him good 
service. Thus the voices of his opponents in Suabia, men of 
little influence, of whom Count Everard of AVirtemberg was 
the most obstinate, were soon silenced. Only one enemy 
held out implacably; but he was the most powerful man in 
the emi)ire. This was Ottocar II., King of Bohemia, of the 
famous family of the Premyslides. He was master not only 
of Bohemia and Moravia, but, by conquest or marriage, of 
Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. His sway extended 
far into Hungary and Poland ; and, at the head of a crusade, 
he even founded Kunigsbcrg in distant Prussia. Once more 
there threatened to grow up a great Sclavonic kingdom on 
the eastern frontier, but that Ottocar fully identified himself 
with the German order of knights. He aspired to the im- 
perial crown ; but the electors had feared to give it to so 
powerful a king, nor would a man of Sclavonic descent have 
been acceptable to the Germans. Disappointed in this hope, 
he refused either to recognize "the poor count" as emperor, 
or to yield up the German duchies which he had seized. 
The German nobles in Ottocar's territory regarded the elec- 
tion of Rudolph as the signal for their deliverance. They at 
once sent to Rudolph, begging him to come and take pos- 
session of these lands in the name of the empire. Rudolph 

R 



242 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

had but a small army to lead against Ottocar, since the im- 
perial call to arms, which used to command the whole na- 
tion, was powerless now, and his supplies of money were still 
more deficient. At Mayence, his imperial " treasury " is said 
to have contained "five shillings of bad money" only. But, 
supported by the Austrian nobles, who rapidly joined him, 
he besieged Vienna, and threatened to cross the Danube upon 
a bridge of his own contrivance, Ottocar now deemed it 
prudent to submit, and to sacrifice Austria and the other 
German districts, in order to save Bohemia and Moravia 
(1277), and promised his daughter in marriage to Rudolph's 
son. He came in his most splendid array to do homage; 
but Rudolph received him with studied simplicity, clad in 
his gray garments, and seated on a three-legged stool. " The 
King of Bohemia has often mocked at my gray coat," he said, 
" and now my gray coat shall mock him." Ottocar was put 
to shame, and left full of rage. Instigated chiefly by his 
wife, he placed his daughter in a nunnery, and took up arms 
again. A severe fight followed, August 26, 1278, on the 
Marchfield near Vienna, and Rudolph was triumphant, Otto- 
car bravely meeting his death on the field. His son, Wen- 
ceslaus (Wenzel), made peace with Rudolph and married one 
of his daughters. 

§ 7. The emperor in 1282 gave Austria, Styria, and Car- 
niola as fiefs to his sons Albert and Rudolph, and soon after 
gave them to Albert alone. He thus attached these coun- 
tries to his family, and laid the foundation of the Hapsburg 
power in Austria. His faithful friend, Meinhard of Gortz, re- 
ceived Carinthia. After a' stay of five years in the newly 
conquered lands, Rudolph returned to the empire, set in or- 
der Suabia, Switzerland, Burgundy, and the western fiontier 
toward France ; destroyed the castles of robbei's in Thurin- 
gia and on the Rhine, hanging the noblemen who lived by 
plunder, and thus in all ways labored to restore civil order. 
Among the most powerful disturbers of the empire was his 
old enemy, Everard of Wirtemberg, who called himself 
"God's friend and all men's foe." Rudolph besieged his 
capital, Stuttgart, and reduced him to subjection (1287). He 
failed, however, in his efforts to extend the power of his family 
over Hungary and Burgundy, as well as in his plan to obtain, 



I 



Chap. X. CHARACTER OF RUDOLPH. 243 

during his own life, the election of his son Albert as his suc- 
cessor. 

§ 8. Rudolph definitely abandoned the conception of the 
empire, and aimed to build up a German kingdom. Ger- 
many owes to liim the establishment of peace and civil order, 
and of the principles upon which these rest, so far as it was 
then possible ; it owes to him a royal sovereignty again in 
sympathy with the nation. The brilliant but useless expe- 
ditions to Rome were abandoned. Rudolph neither visited 
Italy nor assumed the crown of the Caesars ; and he thus 
escaped repeated and ruinous quarrels with the pope. His 
government connected itself with the interests and labors 
of the people. His own mind and character were of a truly 
popular stamp. He was cheerful, merry, full of invincible 
good-humor, always ready with an apt saying or jest; and 
kept his youthful freshness to extreme old age. He might 
be seen, for instance, at the head of his hungry soldiers, 
plucking a turnip from the ground, peeling and eating it, in 
order to encourage them ; or, like Alexander the Great, re- 
fusing a drink of water, because his thirsty soldiers could not 
all be supplied ; or stepping up to a baker's fire at Mayence. 
in his gray military cloak, to warm liimself, and heartily en- 
joying the mistake of the scolding housewife, who under- 
took to drive him away as a pilfering idler. Thus the knightly 
splendor of the Hohenstaufens was wanting in him; but was 
replaced by a trait of popular good-fellowship, characteristic 
of the changed times. At the age of sixty-six, Rudolph mar- 
ried Isabella of Burgundy, a child of fourteen ; and his pa- 
rade of fondness for his bride was the mockery of the court. 
He was at Strasburg when the physicians called his atten- 
tion to his rapidly declining strength. "Up, and forward to 
Spires," he cried ; but died at Germersheim, on his way to 
the ancient tomb of the emperors, July 15, 1291, at the age 
of seventy-three, and was buried in the cathedral at Spires. 

§ 9. Albert of Austria was again a candidate for the throne 
after his father's death, but the electors again rejected him. 
The revengeful Bishop of Mayence, Gerhard of Eppenstein, 
a nephew of the nobler Werner, first obtained the proxies of 
the other electors, and then gave the votes to his kinsman, 
Adolphus of Nassau. Thus a poor count was again set 



244 



HISTORY OF GERMANY, 



Book III. 




Adolphus of Nassau (1292-1298). 

up as monarch, and was compelled to bind himself by the 
most oppressive and unreasonable obligations to the spiritual 
electors, and in particular to make such grants and conces- 
sions to the Archbishop of Maj'^ence as seriously weakened 
the imperial authority. But Adolphus, a bold, unscrupulous 
man, was confident in his good-fortune, and he followed the 
example of Rudolph. During the first years of his reign, he 
diligently kept the public peace in Upper Germany. Even 
Albert reluctantly did him homage. He met the King of 
France, who grew ever bolder in grasping at the territory 
of the German Empire, Avith resolute defiance ; and when the 
King of England began war against France, formed an al- 
liance with him. But Adolphus also strove, by using the 
money which he obtained from England, and for the sale of 



Chap. X. ALBERT I. SLAYS ADOLPHUS IN BATTLE. 245 

imperial grants in Italy, to extend his own family possessions. 
Albert the Degenerate ot'Thuringia married Margaret, Fred- 
erick II. 's daughter, the last of the Hohenstaufen family. He 
drove her from hiiu by cruelty and unfaithfulness, and then 
attempted to disinherit her sons, in favor of his illegitimate 
son, Apitz. For this purpose he resolved to sell his entire 
territories of Thuringia and Meissen to Adolphus, for the in- 
significant price often thousand marks (equivalent to about 
1140,000 in American gold). Adolphus accepted the ignoble 
bargain, and led his mercenaries into both countries, where 
they quartered themselves mercilessly on the people. But 
Albert's sons maintained tlieir inheritance ; and their family 
afterward increased vastly in power, and became Electors of 
Saxony in 1423, 

§ 10. Meanwhile Adolphus attempted to win over the cities 
by abolishing tolls on the Rhine. But by this act he vio- 
lated his unrighteous compact with the electoral prelates — 
nor, indeed, was it possible to carry out their extravagant 
conditions to the letter; and they resolved to depose him, 
and to make his old enemy, Albert of Austria, king. Ger- 
hard of Eppenstein easily obtained a reconciliation with Al- 
bert, who won over his brother-in-law, Wenzel (Wenceslaus) 
of Bohemia, hitherto his enemy, and even liis son-in-law, the 
King of Hungary, and led an army against Adolphus. In 
June, 1298, the Electors of Mayence, Saxony, and Branden- 
burg came together, with plenipotentiaries from the King of 
Bohemia and the Archbishop of Cologne, and decreed the 
deposition of Adolphus. Albert brought his army to the 
left bank of the Rhine, and marched down the stream, Th(^ 
two forces met at Gollheim, upon the Donnersberg. Adol- 
phus fought heroically; and at length, finding his rival in 
the throng, cried out, " Here you shall yield me the empire," 
and sprang to meet him. " That is in the hand of God," an- 
swered Albert ; and dealt him a blow which dashed Adol- 
phus, already wounded, from his horse ; and he was immedi- 
ateh'^ slain. 

§ 11. Albert of Austria (1298-1308) had already been chosen 
king by some of the electors who deposed Adolphus. But 
this manner of obtaining the crown being plainly unlawful, a 
new election was now held, and he was crowned as king. He 



246 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book III. 




Albert I. (1298-1308). 

too was compelled to concede extensive favors and privileges 
to the electors "in return. He at once began, however, to 
carry out with iron persistence his plan of establishing a 
German monarchy. "Hard as the diamond was his heart," 
sang the rhyming chronicler of Austria, No one loved him; 
he was gloomy, cold, and calculating ; he had but one eye, 
and his enemies reproached him with the deformity as a 
mark set on him by nature. The ambitious pope Boniface 
VHI. immediately denounced him, as deformed ; as having 
assassinated his king ; as having married into that genera- 
tion of vipers, the Hohenstaufens; as therefore unworthy of 
the empire, which fell to the pope's disposal. But Albert 
resolutely insisted that he held the throne, not by the pope's 



Chap. X. THE FAILURE OF ALBERT'S PLANS. 247 

confirraatioii, but by the choice of the German princes ; and 
he sought an alliance with Philip the Fair, King of France, 
who was also engaged in a war against the pretensions of 
the pope. He cheerfully yielded to his new ally the terri- 
tory which France had already taken from the western part 
of the empire. The electors, already regretting their choice 
of Albert, protested against this act. Ai'chbishop Gerhard 
boasted that he could yet blow many a king out of his hunt- 
ing-horn. But when they made a movement to depose him, 
as they had Adolphus, he made war upon them, humbled 
them, withdrew all his promises, and strove to reduce them 
to entire subjection. 

§ 12. At last Albert again made a friend of the pope, who 
began to find himself helpless before the growing boldness 
and strength of the King of France. The papacy lost that 
supremacy over the thrones of P^urope which it had wielded 
for two centuries, and the alliance of Germany was again 
welcome to it. On the other hand, it seemed to Albert no 
great sacrifice to make the most immoderate concessions to 
the pope, from whom alone the German electors derived the 
right to choose the King of the Romans. Consequently, as 
Albert imagined, the pope could also revoke this right, and 
fulfill his promise of making the throne hereditary. Albert 
also strove to strengthen the cities against the power of the 
princes, by again abolishing the tolls on the Rhine; and 
went so far as to promise to the landholders, vassals of the 
several princes, " the freedom of the empire," in return for 
their support. He neglected no means of breaking down the 
power of the princes. Nor did he remit his diligence in add- 
ing to his family possessions. He resolved to declare Holland 
and Zealand a vacant fief upon the failure of the male line of 
the count; but his plan failed, and he was compelled to rec- 
ognize the succession, through the female line, of the house 
of Avesne, The family of the Premyslides in Bohemia died 
out in 1306, with Wenzel IH., grandson of Ottocar; and Al- 
bert proclaimed this country also a fief of the^empire, and 
granted it to his son Rudolph. Finally, he declared that his 
predecessor Adolphus had purchased Thuringia and Meissen, 
not for himself, but for the empire ; and when Frederick and 
Dietzmann resisted this claim, he invaded the land. 



248 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

§ 13. But though Albert was fortunate in winning small 
acquisitions of property, all his great plans failed. Pope 
Boniface VIIL, from whose help he expected so much, was, at 
the command of Philip the Fair, imprisoned, mocked, and 
threatened with death ; until, unable to endure his fall from 
such a height of greatness, he died in madness in 1303. Al- 
bert's eldest son, Rudolph, the new King of Bohemia, died in 
July, 1307, having utterly alienated the nobles by his harsh- 
ness, during his reign of a few months, and they loudly 
declared that they would not again accept an Austrian 
for their king. In Thuringia Albert's troops were defeated, 
near Altenburg ; he attempted in vain to transfer the forest 
cantons of Switzerland, fiefs of the empire, to the house 
of Austria (Chapter XII.), and finally Albert himself was 
assassinated. His nephew John, the direct heir to the pos- 
sessions of the Hapsburgs in Switzerland, Suabia, and Al- 
sace, had for a long time pressed upon his uncle and for- 
mer guardian his demands for his inheritance ; but being 
constantly rejected or put off with promises, he conspired 
with a number of his officers, and while Albert was in Switz- 
erland, murdered him at the river Reuss, in view of the an- 
cestral castle of their family (May 1, 1308). John, called the 
Parricide, because of this horrid deed, fled afar with his as- 
sistants, and died in obscurity. The vengeance of Albert's 
wife and daughter then raged against the guilty and the in- 
nocent. It was supposed that John had not wrought this 
"deed of Cain " without the approval of certain princes, who 
thought Albert's power too great ; for he had ruled with 
vigor, defending the public peace, strengthening the cities, 
humbling the princes, holding in check the nobility, and re- 
moving tolls, as none had done before him ; and had governed 
the realm more in the spirit of modern statesmanship than in 
the usual fashion of feudal sovereigns. As he met crime with 
crime, so he fell by a crime at last : a deed far blacker than 
the regicide of just a century before, and one which serves to 
show how fai- Germany was becoming savage again. 

§ 14. In the bloody battle of Woringen, fought for the inher- 
itance of Limburg, June 5, 1288, between the Duke of Cleves 
and the citizens of Cologne on one side, and the Count of Guel- 
dres and his allies, the Archbishop of Cologne and the Counts of 



Chap. X. HENRY OF LUXEMBURG ELECTED. 249 

Nassau and Luxembui-g (Liitzelnburg), on the other, the brave 
Count of Luxemburg was slain. He was succeeded in his 
earldom, a small district in the rough forest of Ardennes, by 
his son Henry : a man eminent in intellect and in all knightly 
exercises, wlio kept the public peace in his territory so well 
that this wildest region of the empire was then the safest for 
the merchant. His brother, Baldwin, through his physician, 
the shrewd Peter Aichspalter, had sought to obtain from the 
pope the vacant see of Mayence; but Peter healed the pope 
of a serious illness, and received Mayence for himself, obtain- 
ing for Baldwin soon after the see of Treves. By the death 
of Albert, in 1308, the throne became vacant; and since the 
secular electors were only agreed whom not to choose — for 
instance, not the restless Everard of Wirtemberg — Baldwin 
and Peter entertained the hope of togetlier controlling the 
election. Another circumstance pressed them to haste. Phil- 
ip the Fair had, as we have seen, humbled Boniface^YHI., and 
in him the papacy itself. Pope Clement V., a Frenchman by 
birth, elevated to the holy see by Philip, never went to Rome, 
but established the papal throne at Avignon, where it re- 
mained seventy years. During this period tlie papacy was 
the servant of France. Philip now asked the German throne 
for his brother, Charles of Valois, in order, as he said, "that 
the imperial authority might again return from the Germans, 
to whom the pope had given it, to its original holders, the 
Franks, and to the successors of Charlemagne." The pope 
was compelled to yield, and to recommend the election of 
Charles. But in secret, since he feared tliat the French royal 
house would be too powerful — one branch of it now reigning 
in Xai)les, and having thence acquired also the crown of Hun- 
gary — he instigated the clerical electors to make a different 
choice. Peter Aichspalter now brought forward Baldwin's 
brotlier, Count Henry of Luxemburg, and secured for him the 
votes of the other electors. The election was held Xovem- 
ber 27, 1308, under a walnut-tree, on the Konigstuhl at Kense, 
a point on the Rhine above Coblentz, whence a^ blast of 
a hunting-horn could be heard in the lands of four of the 
electors, and the new emperor was immediately crowned at 
Aix as Henry VTL 

§ 15. The bloody death of Adolphus of Nassau, and still 



250 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book III. 




Henry VII. (130a-1313). 

more that of Albert of Austria, which was regarded as regi- 
cide and parricide in one, had deeply shocked the people of 
the empire. It seemed to be full time to reflect, and to act 
no longer upon mere principles of ambition. Henry VII., who 
reigned from 1308 to 1313, was impressed with the lesson, 
and sought to be emperor in the ancient sense of the word ; 
to stand above all parties, maintaining peace and justice, by 
virtue of his consecrated dignity as the supreme arbiter of 
Christendom. He was thus the better able to be bountiful 
to his electors ; he found his guarantee that he should worthi- 
ly fill his office in his own merit and his noble purposes; and, 
in fact, once more exhibited the imperial power in a form 
worthy of the great trust. 



Chap. X. HENRY'S EXPEDITION TO ITALY. 251 

§ 16. Henry did not make the extension of his private do- 
mains his object, yet favoring fortune brought it to him in 
the largest measure. Since the death of Wenzel III., the 
succession to the throne of Bohemia had been a subject of 
constant struggles. A very small party was in favor of Aus- 
tria ; but the chief power was in the hands of Henry of Ca- 
rinthia, husband of Anna, Wenzel's eldest daughter. But he 
was hated by the people, whose hopes turned more and more 
to Elizabeth, a younger daughter of Wenzel ; though she was 
kept in close confinement by Henry, who was about to marry 
her, it was supposed, below her rank. She escaped, fled to 
the emperor, and implored his aid. He gave her in marriage 
to his young son John, sending him to Bohemia, in charge of 
Peter Aichspalter, to take possession of the kingdom. He 
did so, and it remained for more than a century in the Lux- 
emburg family. This King John of Bohemia was a man of 
mark. His life was spent in the ceaseless pursuit of advent- 
ure — from tournament to tournament, from war to war, from 
one enterprise to another. AYe meet him now in Avignon, 
and now in Paris ; then on the Rhine, in Prussia, Poland, or 
Hungary, and then prosecuting large plans in Italy, but hardly 
ever in his own kingdom. Yet his restless activity accom- 
plished very little, apart from some important acquisitions in 
Silesia. 

§ 17. Henry then gave attention to the public peace; 
came to an understanding with Leopold and Frederick, 
the proud sons of Albert, and put under the ban Everard 
of Wiitemberg, long a fomenter of disturbances, sending 
against him a strong imperial army. In order to do away 
with hatred and reconcile parties, he ceremoniously buried 
the bodies of Adolphus and Albert in the cathedral of 
Spires. At the Diet of Spires, in September, 1309, it was 
cheerfully resolved to carry out Henry's cherished plan of 
reviving the traditional dignity of the Roman emperors by 
an expedition to the Eternal City. Henry expected thus to 
renew the authority of his title at home, as well as in Italy, 
where, in the traditional viefw, the imperial crown was as 
important and as necessary as in Germany. Every thing here 
had gone to confusion and ruin since the Hohenstaufens had 
succumbed to the bitter hostility of the popes. The contend- 



252 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

ing parties still called themselves Guelphs and Ghibellines, 
though they retained little of the original characteristics at- 
tached to these names. A formal embassy, with Matteo 
Visconti at its head, invited Henry to Milan ; and the parties 
every where anticipated his coming with hope. The great 
Florentine poet, Dante, hailed him as ai saviour for distracted 
Italy. Thus, with the pope's approval, he crossed the Alps in 
the autumn of 1310, attended by a splendid escort of princes 
of the empire. The news of his approach excited general 
wonder and expectation, and his reception at Milan in De- 
cember was like a triumph. He was crowned King of Lom- 
bardy without opposition. But when, in the true imperial 
spirit, he announced that he had come to serve the nation, 
and not one or another party, and proved his sincerity by 
treating both parties alike, all whose selfish hopes were de- 
ceived conspired against him. Brescia endured a frightful 
siege for four months, showing that the national hatred of 
German rule still survived. At length a union of all his ad- 
versaries was formed under King Robert of Naples, the grand- 
son of Charles of Anjou, who put Conradin to death. Mean- 
while Henry VH. went to Rome, May, 1312, and received 
the crown of the Ciesars from four cardinals, plenipotentiaries 
of the pope, in the church of St. John Lateran, south of the 
Tiber, St. Peter's being occupied by the Neapolitan troops. 
But many of his German soldiers left him, and he retired, 
with a small army, to Pisa, after an unsuccessful effort to take 
Florence. From the faithful city of Pisa he proclaimed King 
Robert under the ban, and, in concert with Frederick of Sic- 
ily, prepared for war by land and sea. But the pope, now a 
mere tool of the King of France, commanded an armistice ; 
and when Henry, in an independent spirit, hesitated to obey, 
Clement V. pronou-.iced the ban of the Church against him. 
It never reached the emperor, who died suddenly in the mon- 
astery of Buon-Convento : poisoned, as the German annal- 
ists assert, by a Dominican monk, in the sacramental cup, 
August 24, 1313. He was buried at Pisa. Meanwhile his 
army in Bohemia had been completely successful in estab- 
lishing King John on the throne, and his army in Wirtem- 
berg had reduced Count Everard to such straits that noth- 
ing but the emperor's death could have saved him from sub- 



Chap. X. 



LOFTY CHARACTER OF HENRY VII. 



253 



jection. But, in those days, all imperial enterprises paused 
when the head of the state died, until his successor was chosen, 
and his policy known, and Everard now had time to recover 
his strength. History has few purer and nobler rulers than 
Henry VH. ; even his enemies have found no blot upon his 
character. But in the very loftiness of his aims and in his 
tragic fall lies the completest proof that the time was irrev- 
ocably gone for the fulfillment of the ancient conception of 
the empire, and, indeed, for the mediieval system of thought. 




Lewis the Bavarian (1314-1347). 



§ 18, The Austrian house of Hapsburg still regarded itself 
as having the first claim to the German throne. Its heads 
were now Frederick the Fair and Leopold, the sons of King 
Albert, both of them knightly gentlemen, and enemies ofpopu- 



254 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

lar freedom. In 1308 Frederick submitted with great reluc- 
tance to the clioice of Henry of Luxemburg; and now the 
house that prince had founded had taken its phice beside 
that of Hapsburg, and threatened even to overshadow it. 
But the son and heir of Henry VH., King John of Bohemia, 
was a youth of but seventeen years ; so that the Luxemburg 
party could not hope to set him on the German throne. 
They therefore turned their thoughts to the house of Wit- 
telsbach,the ducal house of Bavaria. Lewis of Bavaria was 
made by Frederick IL Count Palatine, an office created for 
the dukes of Franconia. His grandson, Lewis the Severe, 
left the Palatinate to one son, Rudolph, and Bavaria to the 
other, Lewis. The two brothers were now enemies. Lewis 
was an able and valiant man, and had recently at Gamelsdorf 
(1313), at the head of the Bavarian cities, defeated Frederick 
the Fair of Austria — once the friend of his youth, bnt now 
his bitterest enemy. Frederick, indeed, still relied upon a 
promise which Lewis had once made him, not to oppose his 
election to the throne ; but now that the prospect of his own 
accession was held before him, the temptation proved too 
strong, and he forfeited his pledge to his cousin. He was 
elected, the votes of Mayeuce, Bohemia, Treves, and Branden- 
burg uniting upon him, at Frankfort, October 20, 1314. He 
was known as Lewis IV. of Bavaria, and reigned from 1314 
to 1347. 

§ 19. But Frederick the Fair encamped on the opposite 
shore of the Meuse, with his followers, of whom the most 
prominent was the Count Palatine, Rudolph, Lewis's own 
brother. A pretended election Avas held, at which the votes 
of the Palatinate and Cologne, with those of pretenders to 
the electoral rights of Bohemia and Saxony, were cast for 
Frederick, and the Archbishop of Cologne anointed him king 
at Bonn, Lewis having taken possession of the road to Aix, 
where he was crowned, one day later, by the Archbisho]^ of 
Mayence. The two claimants of the throne at once appealed 
to arms, but for several years no decisive battle was fought. 
The pope endeavored to derive some benefit from this new 
complication in Germany. The wicked John XXII. now oc- 
cupied the papal throne. With unprecedented presumption, 
he declared that in a disputed election he had not only the 



Chap. X. 



LEWIS CONQUERS HIS THRONE. 



255 




Frederick the Fair (1314-1330). 



right to decide between the chiimants, but even to govern 
the empire, and especially Italy. But the fortune of arms 
decided in favor of Lewis. Henry VII. had confirmed the 
forest cantons of Switzerland in the freedom of the empire, as 
independent of Austria. They now embraced the cause of 
the Bavarian, and Frederick's brother, Leopold of Austria, 
rashly undertook to subdue them. But at Morgarten, No- 
vember 15, 1315, the Swiss utterly destroyed his army. Dur- 
ing several succeeding years, however, as the contest was 
carried on without any concentration of effort on the part 
of the friends of Lewis, the Austrian party seemed to gain 
ground; until, in 1320, Lewis, finding himself unable to pro- 



256 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

tect Bavaria from devastation, and believing that his own 
supporters had no real zeal in his service, determined to ab- 
dicate. This purpose greatly alarmed the Luxemburg party, 
and they rapidly flocked to his standard, to strengthen and 
encourage him. In 1322 King John of Bohemia, and Bald- 
win, Elector of Treves, joined him with their troops ; and now 
both claimants were weary of the war and eager for a de- 
cisive battle. It was fought at last, on the fields of Arap- 
fing, near Muhldorf Frederick had promised to do nothing 
until his brother Leopold should join him ; but he was im- 
patient, and ventured to fight alone. He was utterly de- 
feated and taken prisoner, September 28, 1322. Lewis owed 
this success to the skillful conduct of the army by the aged 
Seifrid Schweppermann, and the well-timed assistance of the 
Nuremberg count, Frederick IV. of Hohenzollern. 

§ 20, Frederick the Fair was kept for four years in close 
confinement in the castle of Trausnitz, where his blonde hair 
turned gray; while his wife, a daughter of the King of Ara- 
gon, wept herself blind for him. Meanwhile his indomitable 
brother, Leopold, fought for him, and obtained the aid of the 
King of France, by the promise, in which some of the elect- 
ors joined him, of the crown of Germany. The French king 
also won over King John of Bohemia to his side by the prom- 
ise of a family alliance. Lewis provoked the anger of Pope 
John XXII. by sending aid to the Ghibellines in Italy ; the 
pope declared in favor of the King of France, and after a 
year of bitter controversy and threatening, in October, 1324, 
pronounced ban and interdict against Lewis and his king- 
dom. Lewis immediately summoned a Diet at Ratisbon, 
which fully sustained him. Moreover, the pope had recently 
persecuted the Franciscan monks, whose influence in Ger- 
many was very great among the common people, for the 
I'igid interpretation they put uj)on the vow of poverty ; and 
they now fled for protection to Lewis, and strengthened 
greatly his position in opposition to " the heretic pope." In 
March, 1325, Lewis himself sought a reconciliation wdth Fred- 
erick, and upon his renunciation of the crown, released him, 
binding him, however, to surrender himself again should he 
fail to secure the submission of Leopold and his followers. 
Frederick was unsuccessful ; but he kept his word, and re- 



Chap. X. LEWIS'S WAR WITH POPE JOHN XXII. 257 

turned, without regard to the pope's protest and indignation; 
but Lewis thenceforth treated him as a friend, shared with 
him his home, his table, and his camp, and even, to the aston- 
ishment and dismay of the pope, associated him as joint mon- 
arch in the conduct oFstate affairs. The pope and the elect- 
ors protested against this arrangement, as an infringement 
of their prerogative ; and the two royal " brothers " mod- 
ified their compact, so that Lewis should bear the imperial 
title alone, but Frederick, as German king, should share the 
administration in Germany. Leopold acquiesced in this 
plan for a short lime, but afterward attempted to over- 
throw it. He died, however, in ]March, 132G, without accom- 
plishing this purpose, and Germany was left at peace for a 
time. The people acquiesced in the compact between the 
two claimants of the throne, and they exercised the royal 
power in harmony until the death of Frederick, January 
13, 1330. 

§ 21. As soon as Lewis was secure against the Austrian 
party at home, he made active preparations for an expedi- 
tion to Italy. The liomans themselves, displeased that Pope 
John XXn, made his home in France, invited the emperor 
to their city. In 1327 he crossed the Alps, with an escort 
of but two hundred knights, and was eagerly welcomed by 
the Ghibellines in Milan, May 13, where he assumed the 
crown of Lombardy. He collected a considerable army, and 
marched to Korae, where the people expelled the papal party 
before him, and welcomed him to " the Roman Republic," 
January 7, 1328. No pope or cardinal remained; but a few 
bishops were collected, and the imperial crown was bestowed 
on Lewis as the gift of the Roman people. John XXII. was 
declared deposed, and on May 12, Peter, a Franciscan monk, 
was set up by popular acclamation as St. Peter's successor. 
But the emperor's demands for money to pay his hired troops 
soon provoked the fickle Italians, and in August, 1328, he left 
Rome in haste. He remained in Italy, still losing strength, 
until January, 1330, when the death of Frederick recalled 
him to Germany. There he succeeded, the same year, in 
reconciling to his sovereignty. Albert and Otto, the only 
surviving sons of Albert I. He then carried on his war 
against the pope at Avignon with spirit for a long time. 

b 



258 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

The Franciscan mendicant monks, who were sadly abused 
by the pope and the rich Dominican order, because of their 
oath of poverty, still took part with him ; and in their ser- 
mons and writings they laid bare without reserve the wrongs 
and corruptions of the Church of that time. Lewis appealed, 
like Frederick IL, to a genei'al council of the Church, as a 
higher authority than the pope ; and this conflict contributed 
much to convince the people of the necessity of a reforma- 
tion in the Church. 

§ 22. Lewis, however, soon showed his unmanly want of 
constancy. Just as the people were every where learning to 
disregard the pope's interdict, and every thing combined to 
secure the rights of the empire against the priestly arro- 
gance of Rome, the weak mind of the emperor himself gave 
way. Under the influence of a false friend. King John of 
Bohemia, he offered to recall his appeal, to make every con- 
cession, and even in 1333 secretly to abdicate in favor of Duke 
Henry of Bavaria. The secret, however, became known, and 
the princes and people protested so earnestly against the 
emperor's right to dispose of the crown, that he officially 
revoked the act. But he was now hopelessly humiliated in 
the eyes of all Germany. Pope John XXIL died in 1334, 
and it became more and more evident, under his gentle and 
placable successor, Benedict XIL, that the pope was entirely 
in the hands of the French king, and dared make no conces- 
sions even if he would. Not until he had seven times made 
fruitless efforts to conciliate the holy see ; not until he had 
in vain offered to abandon and to persecute his faithful allies, 
the Franciscans, to acknowledge that without the pope's con- 
firmation his election was void, and to do penance for his of- 
ficial duties in the empire, as for sins, did Lewis summon 
courage at last to act as a king. In May, 1338, he called to- 
gether a Diet of the empire at Frankfort, in which not only 
the princes, but the lower nobility, the knights of the empire, 
and the cities were represented, and here had his royal pow- 
ers defined. From Fi-ankfort the electors betook themselves 
to the ancient " Konigstuhl " at Reuse, where they formed 
the Kurverein, or electoral league, July 15, 1338, and de- 
clared in a solemn oath that the King of Germany received 
his authority solely from God and by the choice of the Ger- 



Chap. X. GROWTH OF THE WITTELSBACHS IN POWER. 259 

man electors ; and that the pope had no right of decision, 
confirmation, or rejection in this election. It was the first 
time for many years that they remembered what was due to 
German honor and independence ; and this, it must be con- 
fessed, was extorted from them, by the pope's invasion of 
their prerogative, in claiming the right to designate and to 
depose emperors, not by patriotism or national pride. 

§ 23. Lewis of Bavaria was immoderate in his passion for 
aggrandizing his own house, and thus very soon gave of- 
fense to the German princes. The family of tlie Ascanii be- 
came extinct in Brandenburg in 1319, by the death of the 
Margrave Waldemar. In 1324, as soon as Lewis was estab- 
lished in the empire, he declared Brandenburg a vacant fee, 
escheated to the crown. It had been for five years without 
a lord, exposed to attacks and encroachments b}- covetous 
neighbors on every side, and was in a deplorable state of dis- 
order and poverty. Lewis bestowed it upon his son Lewis, 
still an infant, and it remained in the family, in spite of much 
opposition, until 1373. During the wars with the pope, in 
the younger Lewis's minority, Brandenburg was frequently 
ravaged by the Poles and the heathen Lithuanians, and was 
under the ban and interdict of the Church. In 1329, his 
brother Rudolph being dead, Lewis conferred the Palatinate 
upon his brother's sons, Rupert I. and Rudoli)h, and the cas- 
tle of Heidelberg long remained the residence of the Wittels- 
bachs of the Rhine. They founded the L^niversity of Hei- 
delberg in 1386, and gave to the nation one emperor, Rupert 
HI. (1400-1410). Another contribution to the greatness of 
the Wittelsbachs soon followed. Margaret Maultasch, daugh- 
ter of Henry of Carinthia, married a son of King John of 
Bohemia, with the Tyrol for her dowry. But she hated her 
husband ; and the emperor took it on himself to divorce her, 
and in 1342 gave her in marriage to his son Lewis, confer- 
ring on him at the same time the Tyrol, while he added Ca- 
rinthia to Austria. He thus made the powerful house of 
Luxemburg his enemies. King John had given him efficient 
aid at the battle of Mtihldorf ; but from this time he allied 
himself closely with the pope and the French court, and sent 
his son Charles to France to be educated. Lewis the Bava- 
rian further took possession of Holland, Zealand, and Hen- 



260 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book UI. 

negau, as the inheritance of his wife, and his acquisitions 
alarmed all the princes. 

§ 24. Lewis now had the additional misfortune of bringing 
upon himself a new ban, from Pope Clement VI., by his con- 
duet in assuming to divorce Margaret from her husband ; 
and the pope actively strove to embitter the electors against 
him. Lewis humbled himself again in the most unworthy 
mannei", offering to submit his crown, his lands, and his life 
to the pope's disposal ; but Clement, as Lewis himself report- 
ed to the princes, treated him with contempt, and the whole 
German peojjle scorned a king whose superstition made him 
so pusillanimous. The princes summoned Lewis to account 
before them at Rense for his slavish demeanor toward the 
pope, and' for the manner in which he had grasped at several 
additions to his family possessions, and the nobles began to 
clamor for his abdication. In 1347 the watchful pope deem- 
ed the time ripe for decisive action, and, having arranged fa- 
vorable terms with Charles of Luxemburg and his father. 
King John of Bohemia, he contrived to secure an apparent 
majority of the electors for his purposes. He assumed to 
dejDOse Henry, Archbishop of Metz, for no offense but that he 
could not be induced to join in the plot; while the elect- 
oral votes of Cologne and Saxony were notoriously pur- 
chased. The three clerical electors, with the princes of Sax- 
ony and Bohemia, then met at Rense, not being able to ob- 
tain admission to the loyal city of Frankfort, and chose 
Charles of Luxemburg as king, July 11, 1346. The Electors 
of Bi-andenburg and the Palatinate were of course not admit- 
ted to this pretended college. Charles, unable to enter Aix, 
was crowned at Bonn ; but all the cities on the Rhine, in 
Suabia, and in Franconia, adhered to Lewis. Philip VI. of 
France was now at war with England ; and King John, 
though long blind and feeble, went to join him in person. 
Philip at once recognized Charles IV. as emperor. Charles 
was dependent on his father, and was therefore compelled to 
be present on the French side at the disastrous battle of 
Crecy, August 26, 1346, but fled from the field at the begin- 
ning of the English success. But his father, hearing that 
the French line was wavering, though he could see nothing, 
ordered his attendants to hold him in the saddle, and lead 



Chap. X. CHIVALRIC DEATH OF KING JOHN. 261 

forward his troops into the thickest of the fight. He fell, 
with several German princes in his train. The old king's 
motto, borne in knightly fashion on his armor, was " Ich 
dien," "I serve," expressing chivalric devotion to God and 
to the ladies. Young Edward, the Black Prince, the hero of 
Crecy, assumed the legend, as well as the three ostrich feath- 
ers in the crest of King John, and they are to this day re- 
tained as the motto and crest of the Prince of Wales. Charles 
returned to Germany ; but the cities refused to acknowledge 
his election, and the friends of the house of Wittelsbach 
maintained the cause of Lewis so valiantly that the issue of 
the war still seemed doubtful, when it was ended by the 
sudden death of Lewis. He fell in a fatal attack of apo- 
plexy while on a bear-hunt, Octobei- 11, 1347. 




Charles IV. (1347-137S). 



CHAPTER XL 



FROM THE ACCESSION OF CHARLES IV. TO THE DEATH OF SIG- 
ISMUND, 1347-1437. 

§ 1 . Charles IV. Secures the Throne. § 2. His Character ; he is Crowned 
at Kome. § 3. The Golden Bull. § 4. It Secures the Sovereignty of the 
Electors. § 5. Charles IV. 's Acquisitions of Territory; the War of 
the Cities ; Charless Death. § G. Results of his Keign. § 7. Wenzel's 
Character. The " Circles " of Judicial Administration. § 8. Traditions 
of the "Forest Cantons" of Switzerland. § 0. The Swiss Confederation 
Formed; its Struggles for Liberty. § 10. The League of the Suabian 
Cities Crushed. § II. Wenzel's Cruelty and Tyranny ; his Imprisonment 



Chap. XI. CIVIL WAR AND PESTILENCE. 263 

and Deposition. § 12. Rupert's Failure and Death. § 13. Three Claim- 
ants of the Crown; Success of Sigismund. § 14. The Empire and the 
Church. § 1."). '"Ihe Great Schfsm ;"' Rival Popes at Avignon and Rome; 
the Council of Pisa. § 16. The Increase of Enlightenment ; Sigismund's 
Great Tour. § 17. The Council of Constance. § 18. Preaching of John 
Huss ; his Appeal to the Council. § 19. He is Condemned and Burned. 
§ 20. Effect of the Council's Decision in Germany and Bohemia. § 21. 
The Hussite Wars. § 22. Sigismund's Italian Expedition and Death. 

§ 1. Charles IV., the grandson of Henry VII., bought his 
election by large promises and gifts of money to the elect- 
ors. He was compelled to make a vow to the pope to en- 
force neither the resolutions of the electoral league of Rense 
nor the previous claims of the emperors upon Italy; nor did 
he shrink from makin'g large concessions to the cities also, in 
order to win their support. Yet it took this " priests' king " 
a long time to obtain general recognition. The Bavarian 
house of Wittelsbach exercised a powerful influence against 
him, Lewis of Brandenburg, son of King Lewis, at the head 
of it. This young man was conscious, indeed, that he was 
not yet able to claim the throne for himself; but he and his 
party set up in 1349, as a rival king against Charles IV., 
Gtinther of Schwarzburg, a straightforward, knightly man, 
who for several months successfully resisted Charles, On 
the other hand, Charles, with the help of the foes of Branden- 
burg, pressed hard upon Lewis. A rumor arose in Branden- 
burg that the Margrave Waldemar did not really die in 
1319, as was supposed, but had secretly gone to the Holy 
Land as a penitent, and had now returned. A pilgrim pre- 
tender appeared, claiming to be Waldemar, the heir of the 
Ascanii ; and Charles acknowledged him as margrave (1348), 
and stirred up a number of the northern princes to a contin- 
uous war against Lewis. One of the most useful acts of 
Charles's reign, in its consequences, was the foundation in 
1348 of a high-school, afterward known as the L^niversity of 
Prague, the oldest, and for a long time the most influential 
of the German universities. Apait from these events, the 
first years of Charles's reign were filled with calamity. A 
frightful pestilence, called the Black Death, swept through 
Europe (see Chapter XIV.), In Germany, where Charles IV. 
was not yet recognized by the greater cities of the empire, 
all was strife and partisan confusion. But Charles made his 



264 



HISTOKY OF GEKMANY. 



Book III. 




Giiuther of Schwarzburg (1349). 

way more by negotiation than by fighting. In 1349 he macle 
terms with Lewis of Brandenburg, and abandoned the false 
Waldemar, whom he had at first supported. Giinther, de- 
serted by his followers, and feeling that his death was near, 
renounced his claim to the throne, in consideration of 22,000 
marks of silver. Two days afterward he died, probably of 
poison (June 14, 1349). Charles IV. then made friends of 
the cities, by promising them the greatest privileges. 

§ 2. Thus Charles IV. was unquestioned sovereign. He 
had expended much money to reach his ends, relying far 
more on gold than on his sword. Cold, calculating, subtle, 
and cunning in his negotiations, but learned and intellectual. 



Chap. XI. THE GOLDEN BULL. 265 

he was as strong a contrast to his noble-minded grandfather 
as to his adventurous father. His great art was, in a time 
when hardly any prince knew how to make his income last, 
always to be well supplied with money. Thus by constant 
purchases and acquisitions he increased his family posses- 
sions, which finally extended through all Eastern Germany. 
Nor did he scruple to give up the last rights and resources 
of the empire, if the transaction would but bring him money. 
Yet he liked external majesty and pomp. He made an ex- 
pedition to Rome, but with an insignificant train, and not in 
the proud spirit of his predecessors. Here in Italy he sold 
what was left of the rights of the empire, sometimes to cities, 
sometimes to tyrants. He received the crown of the Cresars 
at Kume in 1355, two days before Easter; tarrying in the 
city, however, but a few hours of one day, under a promise 
to the pope. The Roman and Italian patriots, such as Cola 
Rienzi, who in boastful pride called himself Tribune of the 
Roman Republic, and the poet Petrarch, who, like Dante, 
hoped to see peace and good order extended by the emperor 
over Italy and all Christendom, were bitterly disappointed 
in this monarch. He had not the least inclination to do < 
homage to idle dreams of a greatness that had passed away; ; 
and, without an effort to win the respect of the people, he 
made haste to escape from Italy. 

§ 3. Soon after his return from Rome, Charles IV. rendered 
a gi'eat service to his country by an act which forms his one 
claim to grateful remembrance in Germany. Early in 1356 '^ 
he proclaimed, at a Diet in Nuremberg, " the Golden Bull," a > | \i' 
sort of fundamental law or constitution for the empire, which 
he had prepared in consultation with the electors; and it 
was adopted and decreed by the Diet, January 10. It con- 
tained twenty-three sections, and seven more were added at 
a later Diet in Metz, on December 25, of the same year. Its 
first object was to put an end to the confusion and strife 
which had long prevailed at the election of the German king. 
In the earliest times, the king of each tribe had been the 
elect of the whole body of freemen ; and even after the 
empire was foi'med the same theory was retained. But the 
nobles soon secured the customary right of nomination, to 
be confirmed by the acclamation of the popular assembly, 



/ 



266 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

and gradually usurped the exclusive power of election. 
(Compare Chapter VIII., § 1, 2 ; X., § 1.) By the rapid de- 
cline of the imperial dignity, and the growth of the great 
princely houses, the votes became fewer ; until, in the twelfth 
century, it seems to have been a fixed idea in the empire that 
its head must be chosen by seven princes, the sacred number, 
and that these votes were inseparably connected with the 
titles of seven great ofiicers of Church and State: the three 
archbishops of the rich northern sees, who were also chancel- 
lors, respectively, of Germany, Burgundy, and Italy ; and the 
four high officers of the imperial household, who were origin- 
ally the dukes of the four nations, Franks, Saxons, Bavarians, 
and Suabians. But the ducal houses of the Franks and Sua- 
bians were extinct, and the Count Palatine of the Rhine and 
the Margrave of Brandenburg had succeeded to their offices 
in the royal household. The house of Wittelsbach acquired 
the Palatinate as well as the duchy of Bavaria, and it seem- 
ed dangerous for one family to hold two votes, while the 
King of Bohemia also pressed his claim to a voice in the 
election. At several times each of the secular votes was in 
dispute between claimants of the same family. Thus rights 
were confused ; rival elections were held, and frequent wars 
arose. Charles IV. and his counselors resolved to put an 
end to these troubles by precisely defining the rights and 
powers of the electors, and the mode of exercising them. 
" Every kingdom which is at odds with itself," says the pre- 
amble to the Golden Bull, " will fall. For its princes are 
the companions of robbers ; and therefore God hath removed 
their candlesticks from their place. They have become blind 
leaders of the blind ; and with blinded thoughts they com- 
mit misdeeds." 

§ 4. The Golden Bull designated the seven electors : the 
three spiritual lords of Mayence, Treves, and Cologne ; and 
the four secular lords, the King of Bohemia as arch-winebear- 
er, the Count Palatine on the Rhine as arch-steward, the Duke 
of Saxony as arch -marshal, and the Margrave of Branden- 
burg as arch-chamberlain. The Electoral Palatinate was left 
to the house of Wittelsbach, whose ducal line in Bavaria 
was deprived of its vote. In the same way it was decided 
that the house of Wittenbei'g, and not that of Lauenburg, 



Chap. XI. THE EMPIRE WEAKENED BY CHARLES IV. 267 

should hold the vote of Saxony, which had hitherto been in 
dispute between them. The Golden Bull granted to these 
electors honors and privileges tar above the other princes of 
the empire. Their territories were always to pass without 
division to the first-born son. Within them, the elector was 
to be the supreme tribunal of justice, from whom no appeal 
lay even to the emperor. They had, within these limits, the 
right to coin money, to work the mines, and to tax the Jews, 
all of Avhich had heretofore been parts of the royal preroga- 
tive. They were to meet every year in council with the 
king. Frankfort, was adopted as the place of election, Aix 
as that of coronation. To these articles were added laws for 
the preservation of the public peace. Xot a word is said in 
the Golden Bull of the pope, and his pretended right of "con- 
firming" the choice of the electors. Indeed, in this first fun- 
damental law of the "Holy Roman Empire" there is no allu- 
sion to Rome or to Italy. 

The Golden Bull, in its essential features, remained in 
force until the Peace of Westphalia, 1048, and almost en- 
tirely prevented contests over elections. It might have 
grown into a real constitution for the empire, but for the 
unfortunate weakness of the emperors themselves, and the in- 
difi:erence of the princes to all but their own aggrandizement. 
The work of organization, however, never went furthei. 
The immediate consequence was the unlimited sovereignty 
of the electors, who were soon zealously imitated by other 
princes. 

§ 5. After his return from Italy, Charles lY.'s career was 
one continuous hunt for lands, dignities, and princely privi- 
leges. He strove to obtain possession of Brandenburg for 
his own family. He dexterously stirred up dissension in the 
house of Bavaria, and in 1373 he succeeded in compelling 
Otto the Lazy, the younger brother of Lewis of Bratiden- 
burg, to yield the marches to him. Thus the house of Luxem- 
burg became established in Brandenburg. Charles IV. doubt- 
less hoped to make the imperial crown hereditary in his own 
family, and therefore made large concessions to the princes 
and the Church ; while he showed little favor to the cities 
and the knights, withdrawing grants which he had previously 
made, and even handing over to princes some of^the cities of 



268 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

the empire as pledges for the payment of money due from 
him personally. Yet before the end of his life almost all 
that he had done or attempted for the empire proved to be 
fruitless, and he violated the regulations of the Golden Bull 
in his endeavors, which were at last successful (1376), to secure 
the next election for his son Wenzel. In Suabia, the knights 
and the cities joined forces against Everard of Wirtemberg, 
a favorite of the king, and the result was the bloody and 
protracted "war of the cities," 1377 to 1389, which is memor- 
able for the proof it gave of the extraordinary superiority of 
gunpowder over muscles in impelling deadly missiles. The 
enterprising inhabitants of the cities first learned the use of 
it, and by it gained several victories over superior numbers. 
This war gave an imj^ressive proof that all internal organiza- 
tion in Germany was passing away. The Church, the em- 
pire, and nearly every country in Christendom seemed to be 
in the course of disintegration. The Turks in the East were 
threatening to break in upon distracted Europe, when Charles 
IV., after a long sickness, died in his castle at Prague, No- 
vember 29, 1378. 

§ 6. It was only in his own dominions that he accomplished 
any permanent work, and to these he was called a father; 
but a step-father to the empire. From his seventeenth year 
he actually governed Bohemia, his father being always ab- 
sent. He enlarged and fortified Prague, adorning it with a 
cathedral, monasteries, bridges, and towers ; he founded there, 
in 1348, the first German university; and he made it the cap- 
ital of intelligence and industry in Germany. He was per- 
sistent in increasing his hereditary domains, and having suc- 
cessively secured the Upper Palatinate, added Silesia to Bo- 
hemia, and taken Brandenburg, with its dependencies, Pom- 
erania and Mecklenburg, from the Bavarian house, he was at 
his death hereditary sovereign from the Baltic almost to the 
Danube. He reduced the marches to order, encouraged and 
protected trade, and left a name in Eastern Germany far more 
honored than in the empire. He was always in disposition 
a Bohemian rather than a German. His predecessor, Lewis 
of Bavaria, had degraded the ci'own by subserviency to the 
pope ; Charles IV. almost destroyed it by permitting it to 
become the tool and plaything of the German princes. The 



Chap. XI. 



WENZEL OF BOHEMIA. 



269 



ruinous consequences of his short-sighted selfishness were 
felt for centuries ; and the emperor Maximilian L, who died 
in 1519, used often to say that "Germany never suffered from 
a more pestilent plague than the reign of Charles IV," 




Wenceslaus (13TS-1400). 

§ 7. Wenzel, or Wenceslaus, who succeeded his ftither, 
Charles IV., had been well educated by him, and initiated, 
while young, into the business of the government. But his 
nature was impulsive and passionate, and his habits grad- 
ually came to be barbarous. Yet he began well. He zeal- 
ously undertook to restore the unity of the Church, to main- 
tain civil order, and to improve the coinage. But the " war 
of the cities" was still raging in South Germany. The great 
league of the Suabian cities, several associations of knights. 



2V0 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

such as the."Schlegler," the knights of St. George and of 
St. William, and others, and finally such ambitious chiefs as 
Everard of Wirtemberg and Leopold of Austria, all stood 
in confused hostility to one another. Wenzel attempted, fol- 
lowing his father's example, and in order to restore the pub- 
lic peace, to divide South Germany into four " circles," and 
to establish tribunals for the settlement of controversies; but 
amid such disturbances as these he could accomplish nothing. 
This was the beginning of the division of Germany into cir- 
cles or judicial districts. But it was not until the " war of the 
cities" was ended, by the great victory of Everard of Wir- 
temberg over the Suabian league at Doffingen, that Wenzel 
was able to carry out his plan. By a decree at the Diet of 
Eger, in 1389, he established seven "circles" in the empire 
for the security of the public peace. 

§ 8. Meanwhile the struggles of the Swiss cantons for free- 
dom attracted the attention of all Southern Germany, Along 
the valley of the Reuss, below the snowy crown of the St. 
Gothard, and upon the slopes surrounding the Lake of Lu- 
zerne, shadowed by Pilatus, the Rigi, and other still more 
massive heights, dwelt from early times a hardy race of peas- 
ants, devoted to hunting and pasturage rather than tillage. 
They governed themselves in the ancient German style, in 
their "cantons" of Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden, but paid 
tribute to the religious foundations at Einsiedeln or Zurich, 
or else acknowledged as feudal lords some of the noble fam- 
ilies, as the Hapsburgs or Attinghausens. Uri alone was 
"free of the empire." But the whole people became accus- 
tomed, in their wild homes, to a fearless independence, and 
learned to love their freedom. The Hapsburgs, Rudolph and 
Albert, were never able, even as emperors, fully to vindicate 
their hereditary claims to lordship over "the four forest 
states," as the cantons around Lake Luzerne were called. 
Memorable stories are told by legend of the oppression of the 
governors sent hither by Albert — of Gessler's tyranny, of the 
oath at the Rtitli, of Tell's shot at the apple, and his leap for 
safety from the boat to the rock; and how, in the street at 
Ktissnacht, his unfailing arrow slew the governor. Some of 
these venerable traditions have been embodied by Schiller in 
immortal verse. But all that history knows of the infancy 



Chap. XI STRUGGLES OF THE SWISS FOR LIBERTY. 27] 

of this noble peojile is given in a few words. The men of the 
three cantons in 1291 formed a league which maybe regard- 
ed as the beginning of the Swiss confederation. It was orig- 
inally only a brotherhood designed for mutual protection, 
such as was formed about the same time by the cities on the 
Rhine and in Suabia. By the aid, first of Henry VII. of Lux- 
emburg, and then of Lewis of Bavaria, both of them enemies 
of the house of Austria, these confederates actually threw ofl' 
their personal dependence on that house. 

§ 9. In return they were faithful to Lewis; and therefore 
the gloomy Leopold, brother of Frederick the Fair, marched 
against them with his knights. At the pass of Morgarten, 
in 1315, the Swiss peasants on foot resisted the harnessed 
knights, and used their halberds, clubs, and long swords so 
well, with huge stones rolled down from above or hurled 
from slings, that Leopold retreated with heavy loss. Lewis 
then confirmed forever the league of the allies, who thence- 
forth may be regarded as entirely free. Luzerne, which had 
been still more closely connected with the Hapsburgs, joined 
the confederacy in 1832; the free imperial city of Ziii-ich in 
1351 ; Glarus, hitherto mainly subject to the monastery of 
Seckingen, in 1352; then Zug ; and finally, in 1353, the impe- 
rial city of Berne, which had saved the league from defeat in 
the battle of Laupen, fought in 1339 against the neighboring 
nobles. These eight ancient places formed the old Swiss con- 
federacy. A little while before the groat city wars, the vali- 
ant and knightly Leopold III. of Austria endeavored to bring 
back the Swiss to subjection ; but the result was the battle of 
Sempach, July 9, 1380. The flower of the Austrian and Sua- 
bian nobility followed the Austrian banner. The knights dis- 
mounted, and made a threatening display with their long 
lances. Opposite them, on a height at the edge of the for- 
est, stood the Swiss. Before making the attack, they fell 
upon their knees in prayer. Then they came on at full speed, 
but for a long time paused and wavered before the iron wall 
of knights, unable to break through. Then, as an ancient 
song relates, Arnold Struthan of Winkelried saw his oj^por- 
tunity, and called out, " ]\Iy faithful comrades, take care of 
my Avife and child, and I will make you a way;" and at once, 
grasping all the spear points as far as he could reach in a 



272 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

sheaf, he gathered them into his own bosom, and bore them 
down with him to the ground. 

" ' Make way for liberty I' he cried ; 
Made way for liberty, and died." 

Over him swept the Swiss, like a stream ; and the knights, 
hampered by their heavy armor, fell imder the clubs and 
swords of the peasants. Leopold himself was slain, and 
nearly all the castles of the South German nobles were filled 
with mourning. Two years afterward another victory was 
won over the same enemy at Nafels, April 9, 1388. The 
confederates were now feared far and wide, while the spirit 
of Austria was broken, and the brave Swiss were left long 
undisturbed in their strongholds. 

§ 10. The brilliant success of the Swiss against the Austri- 
ans and their princely allies at Sempach alarmed the princes 
and nobility, while it encouraged the cities, and the hostility 
between the two parties broke out fiercely on the Rhine and 
throughout Bavaria and Suabia. Everard of Wirtemberg, 
now an old man, was the centre of the league of noblemen, 
supported by the princely families of Bavaria, the Palatinate, 
Baden, and Wiirzburg, and by the associations of knights. 
The Suabian cities at last gathered their forces at Doffingen, 
where Everard attacked them with a superior force, August 
24, 1388. After a long and doubtful conflict, in which Ever- 
ard's son, Ulrich, was killed, the citizens were driven from 
the field, and vast numbers of them slaughtered. The em- 
peror had taken no direct part in the war, but had encouraged 
the cities, in several instances, against the princes ; yet as 
soon as this decisive battle was fought, he, as usual, heartily 
embraced the successful cause. At the Diet of Eger, held 
the following May, he promulgated a decree, which was 
adopted, dissolving all city leagues, forbidding any combina- 
tion among the cities, and putting an end to all outside citi- 
zenship, or to the relation which the cities had assumed to- 
ward cultivators and peasants outside the walls — " stockade 
citizens" — by which, in return for military service, these were 
entitled to refuge and protection from marauders or oppress- 
ors. The decree provided various regulations for preserving 
the public peace, and it was at this time that the division 
into judicial circles was made general and practical. The 



Chap. XI. DEPOSITION OF WENZEL. 273 

political power of the cities was now crushed, and the princely 
families were as absolute in all Upper Germany, except Switz- 
erland, as elsewhere. Even the inferior nobles, who had thus 
assisted to destroy the military strength of the cities, were 
soon made to feel the heavy weight of princely power upon 
themselves. 

§ 11. In 1390 Wenzel held another Diet at Nuremberg, in 
which he decreed a uniform coinage for all Germany, but the 
scheme was never carried out. Ever since his coronation, his 
disposition had been growing more savage and tyrannical; 
until his oppression and injustice had now made a large sec- 
tion of the Bavarian nobles his bitter foes. During his ab- 
sence at Nuremberg, a conspiracy was formed among them 
to depose him, but he returned in time, by vigorous measures, 
to prevent an immediate outbreak. But his cruelty only in- 
creased, until one of his own brothers, the Duke Sigismund, 
joined the conspirators. Wenzel's favorite companion was 
the executioner, and he was always followed by large, fierce 
dogs, by whom his first wife was torn to pieces. Her con- 
fessor, St. Nepomuk, was put to death by the king; his only 
crime being, it was believed, that he refused to betray to 
Wenzel the confidences of the confessional. This emperor 
was also notorious for reckless drinking, which led many of 
the rough common soldiers to regard him as a boon compan- 
ion, but which Avholly unfitted him to govern. He was at 
length seized by the discontented nobles, with the Margrave 
Jobst at their head, and taken as a prisoner to Prague, and 
afterward to Wildberg, in Austria. But Rupert, the Count 
Palatine, with the forces of the empire to support him, de- 
manded the release of the chief of the state, and in 1394 he 
was set at liberty. He at once gave himself up to revenge 
upon his enemies, and to worse excesses than before in his 
own life ; and thus he fell into general contempt, while he 
entirely neglected the interests of the empire. Meanwhile, 
ever since his coronation, the Church had been divided be- 
tween two claimants of the holy see — one at Avignon and one 
at Rome. In 1398 Wenzel held an interview at Rheims with 
Louis XII. of France, at which it was agreed that Louis should 
compel the abdication of the pope at Avignon, and Wenzel 
that of the pope at Rome. But Pope Boniface IX., unworthy 

T 



274 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book III. 



as he was, was yet cunning enough to stir up against Wen- 
zel all the electors on the Rhine, the three archbishops, and 
Rupert of Bavaria, Count Palatine, whose family had long 
been ambitious for the throne. These electors met in Ober- 
lahnstein, and decreed the deposition of Wenzel, disguising 
their real aims under the pretense of piety and patriotism. 
They reproached him with his vices, and, above all, for hav- 
ing granted away the territory of the empire, by confirming 
Galeazzo Visconti as Duke of Milan, and of all the conquered 
towns around, for a payment of one hundred thousand gul- 
den. They chose in his place Rupert, the Count Palatine, 
one of themselves, as their king. Wenzel did not, indeed, 
acknowledge their authority, but he seemed to console him- 
self easily for the loss of the German crown. 




Rupert (UOO-UIO). 



Chap. XI. THREE RIVAL EMPERORS. 275 

§ 12. Rupert of the Palatinate (1400-1410), of the house 
of Wittelsbach, was not a feeble man ; but he did not succeed 
in obtaining consequence, or even general recognition as em- 
peror. He dragged on a tedious, fruitless war with Wenzel 
for the crown. It then seemed to him better to go to Italy, 
and recover what Wenzel had given away ; but he was de- 
feated by the new tactics of the Condottieri, and came back 
poorer and less honored than he went. He soon lost all his 
influence, even in Southwestern Germany, where alone he had 
been recognized. The violent and avaricious John of Nas- 
sau, Archbishop of Mayence, grasped all the power in this re- 
gion. He was known as " the biting wolf." He formed of 
nobles and knights the league of Marbach, " for protection 
against every man, whosoever it may be ;" and accordingly 
even against the king. And both the rival kings soon fell so 
low that they competed for the favor of this league. Just as 
Rupert was about to throw off the yoke of the bishop, and 
to bring him under proper discipline, he was overtaken by 
death, in 1410. Germany was then in utter disorganization. 
From the Rhine to the Elbe, men lived as if there were no 
empire. The larger districts in the east — Brandenburg, Meis- 
sen, Bohemia, and Austria — acted as isolated kingdoms, and 
paid no regard to the empire, while Franconia and Suabia 
were in sad disorder. 

§ 13. The death of Rupert did not even free the empire 
from the embarrassment and confusion of a disputed throne. 
Three claimants of the royal dignity appeared in 1411, all of 
them from the house of Luxemburg. Charles IV. at his 
death divided his family possessions, giving Bohemia to his 
oldest son, Wenzel, Moravia and Silesia to his cousins Jobst 
and Procopius, and Brandenburg to his second son, Sigis- 
raund. Wenzel treated his own kingdom as he did the em- 
pire, and it rapidly fell into disorder, while he followed his 
wild, dissolute life. But still, even after Rupert's death, he 
asserted his claims to the German crown, though he did noth- 
ing to support them, and the electors of Saxony and Branden- 
burg acknowledged him, and refused to join in a new elec- 
tion during his life. Jobst, the Margrave of Moravia, now 
an old man, and extremely covetous, obtained the votes of 
Mayence and Cologne for himself, though he seems to have 



276 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

claimed the empire only as a means of adding to his wealth. 
" He passed for a great man," says an ancient chronicler ; 
"but there was nothing great about him but his beard." 
Finally, Sigismund of Brandenburg was himself chosen and 
supported by the Electors of Treves and the Palatinate, and 
thus, with his own vote, commanded a larger number than 
either of his rivals. Sigismund was by far the ablest and 
most hopeful candidate for the throne. After his father's 
death (1378) he mortgaged the marches of Brandenburg to 
Jobst and Procopius for money to prosecute his schemes in 
the East, where his father's prudence had opened for him a 
prospect of uniting two great kingdoms. Hungary and Po- 
land had been admirably governed by Lewis the Great, a de- 
scendant of the house of Anjou, until his death in 1384. He 
left two daughters, Mary and Hedwig, and Sigismund was 
betrothed to the elder. But the Poles rejected him, and 
elected Hedwig queen ; and she married Ladislaw of the Ja- 
gello family, who, with the whole people of Poland, embraced 
Christianity. But, after long conflicts, Sigismund secured 
his affianced bride, married her, and obtained the throne of 
Poland. He was now regarded as the hope of the empire, 
and received the support of its well-wishers : among them, 
of the wise Frederick VI. of Hohenzollern, Count of Nurem- 
berg, to whom, in 1414, he granted the marches of Branden- 
burg. Jobst fortunately died in 1411 ; Wenzel contented 
himself with the empty name of Roman king, until he too 
died childless in 1419; and meanwhile Sigismund, through 
the skill of Frederick of Hohenzollern, by large grants at the 
expense of the royal prerogative and estates, obtained the 
acquiescence of all the electors in his imperial dignity, and 
began his undisputed reign. 

§ 14. Once more there seemed to be hope that Germany 
might be restored to a healthful condition. Sigismund, sec- 
ond son of Charles IV., was in the prime of manhood : a hand- 
some, knightly man, of high endowments and culture. His 
own princely possessions were large enough to command re- 
spect. When he assumed the throne, with this family power 
in his hands, on good terms with the house of Bavaria, with 
Frederick of Hohenzollern for his nearest friend and counsel- 
or, there seemed to be a prospect once more of a real resto- 



Chap. XI. 



THE POPES AT AVIGNON. 



277 




Sigismund (1410-1437). 

ration of the empire. But he also took part, as an emperor, 
in the great questions which agitated Christendom. The con- 
dition of the Church, tlien distracted by rival popes, demand- 
ed a speedy reform ; and even when the emperor was of no 
weight in Germany, his title was still regarded in all other 
nations as the highest in the Christian world ; and the less 
there was to hope from the pope, the more was it borne in 
mind that the emperor was the earthly guardian of the Church. 
§ 15. For seventy years, ever since Philip the Fair of France 
deposed Pope Boniface VIII., the papal see had been fixed at 
Avignon (from 1308 to 1378, the so-called Babylonian ex- 
ile of the Church). During this period the dignity of the 



278 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

papal court had fallen very low, through immorality and lux- 
ury, the trade in offices and extortions of money. When a 
new pope was finally elected at Rome, many of the cardinals 
were discontented with the result, returned to Avignon, and 
set up one of their number as pope. Thus began the division 
of the Church, or the great schism, which lasted from 1378 
I till 1418. The popes excommunicated one another, and each 
I laid the ban upon all countries and people which obeyed the 
/ other. The strife confused the minds of believers more and 
more, and since both of the popes had need of money, their 
extortions and shameful devices for exacting it were con- 
stantly multiplied. It was during this period that Boniface 
IX. put in practice on a large scale the sale of indulgences, 
which gradually degenerated into the sale of forgiveness for 
sins, and thus brought together vast sums of money, espe- 
cially from Germany. Intelligent and well-disposed people 
looked upon a general council, under these circumstances, as 
the only remedy. A council of the entire Church, they be- 
lieved, must, according to Christ's promise, be guided by the 
Holy Spirit, and be infallible. It would possess an authority 
liigher than the contending popes, and would be able to com- 
plete a reformation in the head and the members of the 
Church. At last the cardinals, both at Rome and at Avignon, 
resolved to call such a council at Pisa in 1409. It deposed 
both popes, and elected a new one. But as neither of the 
former ones gave way, the evil was only increased, and there 
were three popes, as there were three emperors, at the same 
time. Sigismund resolved to put an end to this confusion. 
The most powerful of the three popes, John XXII. (Balthasar 
Cossa), was compelled by the arms of the young King of 
Naples to flee from Rome, and asked the aid of Sigismund, 
who therefore easily prevailed on him to summon a new gen- 
eral council at Constance, on German soil. 

§ 16. Indeed, the need of a thorough reform in Church and 
State was already widely felt. It was an age of intellectual 
inquiry and of spiritual awakening. During the fourteenth 
century, Wickliffe had preached vigorously in England against 
a formal religion, against the dominion of the Church over the 
conscience, and the worship of idols. Jerome and other " re- 
formers before the Reformation" had taught the same doc- 



Chap. XL THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. 279 

trines in Bohemia, and John Huss was now proclaiming this 
new and Scriptural theology from his chair in the University / 
of Prague. Thousands of people, who had not embraced or 
even heard these doctrines, were hungering for truth, and 
wore the yoke of the Church liglitly. High- schools were 
rapidly increasing in number and influence throughout Ger- 
many. The University of Prague, the oldest of these, was 
founded in 1348, and those of Vienna, Heidelberg, Cologne, 
Erfurt, and Leipsic rapidly followed, all Avithin sixty years. | 
All these became centres of enlightenment, and of the de- 
mand for reform; while, under the public preaching of Huss, 
assisted by his friend Jerome of Prague, the greater part of 
Bohemia adopted the reformed belief before 1410. The un- ) 
settled minds, who desired a reformation of the Church, but 
were not ready to defy its authority, were as eager for the 
council as were the most zealous Catholics, and there was a 
general hope that, by its wisdom, the unity of the Church 
might be restored and its teachings purified. 

Before the council assembled, Sigismund sought to insure 
the peace of the Church by making an adventurous, perhaps 
a perilous journey, to Aragon, Paris, and London. He ac- 
complished nothing of his purpose. In France he gave much 
oifense by conferring knighthood, an act thought to be an in- 
fringement on the prerogative of the king of the country. 
At London the ship which brought him was met by the Duke 
of Gloucester, who rode into the water, demanding of the 
emperor, at the sword's point, a declaration that he did not 
purpose to interfere with the king's authority in England. 
The time when the Holy Roman Empire claimed supremacy 
over all Christendom was still fresh enough in memory to 
excite jealousy. 

§ 17. The Council of Constance, which assembled in Octo- 
ber, 1414, once more brouglit together all Western Christen- 
dom in one great community. Prelates came to it from Italy, 
Germany, France, England, and finally from Spain ; and even 
the Patriarch of Constantinople, already threatened by the 
Turks, was represented by an embassy. A pope and an em- 
peror were present, with most of the German princes of the 
empire, and their noble trains competed Avith one another in 
the number of their servants and horses; with embassadors 



280 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

of foreign kings, themselves sometimes of princely birth, 
deputies from several universities, especially that of Paris ; 
representatives of cathedral chapters and monasteries ; and 
innumerable money-changers, merchants, peddlers, and ad- 
venturers of every sort and of every country, seeking their 
fortunes in the vast throng. All these assembled at a period 
distinguished for its devotion to outward display and mo- 
mentary enjoyment. Solemn offices and processions were 
held ; tourneys and royal entrances. Prelates displayed their 
magnificent attire, with mitres and fillets ; cardinals came in 
red hats, doctors in blue robes, abbots and monks in black, 
brown, or white cowls ; and amid them flashed the gold and 
silver splendor of the knights, with their feathery plumes, 
their robes hung with bells, their horses covered with orna- 
ment, their falcons and dogs. All the languages of the West 
were heard mingled in the din. The whole mass, gathered 
into one small, crowded city of the Middle Ages, and into 
the tents which covered the neighborhood, presented a most 
varied and animated scene. From the first the spiritual 
work before the council seemed to be undertaken with zeal. 
The votes were taken by nations. The dissolute pope, John 
XXII., was compelled to abdicate, March 1, 1415, though he 
first tried by various conspiracies to dissolve the council, and 
finally, on March 20, fled, under the protection of Frederick 
of Austria, and revoked his abdication. He was, however, 
arrested, deposed, and compelled to submit. The council 
also rejected the other two popes, and finally elected Martin 
V. to the holy see, and thus happily restored the unity of 
the Church. But the wish of Sigismund and of the Ger- 
man nation first to consider and carry out a true reforma- 
tion was defeated, and the new pope was able to deprive 
the council of the best fruits of its labors bj^ making separate 
agreements with the several nations. Meanwhile Frederick 
of Austria, who had helped the pope to escape, was put under 
the ban by the Emperor Sigismund. The quick Swiss were 
at once up against their old enemy, and wrested from him 
the territory extending toward the Rhine — the whole valley 
of the Aar, including the ancient residences of the Hapsburg 
family. 

§ 18. The most memorable act of the Council of Constance 



Chap. XI. JOHN HUSS BEFORE THE COUNCIL. 281 

was its condemnation of IIuss. John Huss, a Bohemian, 
born in 1373, was a favorite preacher and teacher in the Uni- 
versity of Prague (§ 14), and confessor to the pious wife of 
the Emperor Wenzel. He there studied the teachings of 
Mattliias of Janow, and of the English reformer, John Wick- 
liffe, of the University of Oxford ; and took an active part 
in circulating Wicklifie's writings, though he never went so 
far as the English radical in rejecting the peculiar dogmas 
of the Church. For instance, IIuss believed in transubstan- 
tiation to the last. But he became prominent as a severe 
preacher of repentance, and a bold reprover of ecclesiastical 
abuses, especially of the trade in indulgences. At the same 
time, being a zealous Bohemian and rector of the university, 
he threw its government into the hands of the Bohemians, 
and thus deeply offended the Germans, who thencefortli 
abandoned the university, and went mostly to Leipsic. The 
pope summoned IIuss to Rome to be judged for heresy, and 
on his foilure to appear deposed and excommunicated him, 
Huss made his appeal to " the pope when better instructed,'' 
preached with zealous eloquence to the people, and called on 
Christ, as the head of the true and invisible Church ; while 
his friend, Jerome of Prague, burned the pope's bull of ex- 
communication in the public whipping-place. Summoned to 
appear before the general council of the Church, and furnish- 
ed by Sigismund with a safe-conduct to and from the coun- 
cil, Huss came to Constance for a final decision upon his case. 
§ 19. On November 28, 1414, his enemies having shame- 
fully maligned him, Huss was seized and thrown into a vile, 
pestilential dungeon. Sigismund, who arrived soon after, was 
uneasy at the breach of his safe-conduct, but was easily per- 
suaded to leave tlie lieretic to the judgment of the Church. 
The council itself desired reform, but would not listen to any 
doubts of the infallibility of the Church, and especially of it- 
self; but Huss, for three days, in the face of the Church fa- 
thers, appealed to his conscience and to the Scriptures, and 
refused to deny or recant the heresies with which he was 
charged. (June 5, 7, and 8, 1415). His defense was doubt- 
less defiant in tone. The extreme papal party was resolved 
to destroy him. The moderate reformers regarded his zeal 
and thoroughness as fanaticism which was dangei'ous to their 



282 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 



cause, and hoped to vindicate their own orthodoxy by join- 
ing his persecutors. His denunciations of the wealth and 
power held and abused by the higher clergy made the prel- 
ates his enemies. Thus the council, as a whole, was against 
him, and he was condemned to death. With frightful im- 
precations, he was deprived of his priestly office, his body 
was given over to death, and his soul to the devil. " And 
I," said Huss, " give it into the hands of my Lord Jesus 
Christ." Praying and singing psalms of praise, he walked 
to the stake through a numberless throng of people. As the 
flames rose around, he sang a devotional hymn, cried three 
times, " Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit ;" and the 
third time, the fire striking upon his face, his lips were seen 
to move as in silent prayer ; his head bowed, and he died. 
It was his forty-second birthday, July 6, 1415. His ashes 
were thrown into the Rhine, that the Bohemians might not 
gather them. Nearly a year later, his friend, Jerome of 
Prague, who in his terrible trials had first attempted to flee, 
and had then recanted, withdrew his recantation, and met his 
death by fire in the same place with equal firmness. May 23, 
1416. Huss used to say, in allusion to his own name, which 
in the Bohemian dialect means a goose: "The goose is a 
weak and tame creature, and can noTHy high ; but stronger 
birds will come after it, falcons and eagles, and will soar 
aloft, breaking through all snares." 

The martyrdom of Huss made a profound impression, even 
upon his persecutors, ^neas Sylvius, afterward Pope Pius 
H., in his interesting "History of Bohemia," says: "Both 
John and Jerome endured the torture with firmness, and 
made haste to the fire as if they were invited to a feast ; with- 
out uttering a sound that could suggest a failure of cour- 
age. When they began to burn, they sang a hymn, and scarce- 
ly could the flames and crackling of the fire stop their sing- 
ing. No yjhilosopher is reported to have met death with 
such intrepidity as theirs." Surely it was not without cause 
that the early reformers, pointing to the death of Huss, often 
cried, "Their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies them- 
selves being judges." 

§ 20. The Council of Constance continued in session for 
nearly three years after the murder of Huss. But it soon 



Chap. XI. THE UTRAQUISTS IN BOHEMIA. 283 

became evident that no reform in the Church could be ac- 
complished by this body, and that when it succeeded in 
uniting the Church under one pope, its serious work was 
done. On May 16, 1418, Pope Martin V. suddenly left Con- 
stance, and the council quietly dissolved. Meanwhile the 
fate of Huss was considered throughout Germany and Bo- 
hemia, and many voices were raised in denunciation, espe- 
cially of the breach of the imperial safe-conduct given to 
him. On September 23, 1415, the council adopted a decree 
defending its action and that of the emperor, in which it ex- 
pressly declared that no faith or promise could be kept or 
considered as binding, under the sanction of any natural, 
divine, or human law, if it be to the prejudice of the Catho- 
lic faith. The bitter feeling aroused in Germany among men 
of intelligence and honesty, by such open defiance of truth 
and honor, was but a shadow of that which prevailed in Bo- 
hemia. During the wars and disturbances of Wenzel's 
reign, the Bohemians had fallen back, to some extent, into 
barbarism; and when they heard of the martyrdom of their 
favorite teacher, they were excited to frenzy. The doctrines 
of Huss, and the preaching of his disciples, were welcomed 
and proclaimed more eagerly than ever. In particular, since 
the Council of Constance now selected for especial condem- 
nation the demand of Huss for " the sacrament in both 
kinds" for the laity, they took up this demand as their 
watchword, and the sacred cup as their banner. It was 
merely a rule of discipline in the Roman Church to deny the 
cup to lay communicants, adopted in the twelfth century, to 
prevent the danger of "spilling the blood of Christ;" but 
the demand for its abrogation was now regarded by the 
Catholics as a crime worthy of death and of excommunica- 
tion. 

§ 21. The bitterness of feeling was increased by the fact 
that Wenzel was childless, so that his kingdom at his death 
must fall to Sigismund, whom the Bohemians hated and de- 
spised, as guilty of breaking his own safe-conduct, and acqui- 
escing in the murder of their prophet. Ziska, a man of great 
power, took the lead of the Hussites. Wenzel died of apo- 
plexy on August 16, 1419, just as their insurrection began. 
The Bohemians refused to accept Sigismund as his successor; 



284 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

and the whole country was filled with rebellion and religious 
zeal. Preachers went about with the sacred cup in hand as 
an emblem, and the people took up arms for their faith with 
the cup pictured on their banners. It was in vain that Sig- 
ismund led Hungarian and imperial armies, and that papal 
legates preached a crusade against them as pernicious here- 
tics. For the first time in several centuries, a whole nation, 
not merely the knights, but the artisans and peasants, flew 
to arms in defense of religion and their country. Befoi'e 
their rolling wagons, which they built in Old Testament 
style into barricades around their camps; before the sound 
of their inspired battle-hymns, and before their scythes, clubs, 
flails, and spikes, the king's armies turned and fled, often be- 
fore they came in sight. Thus they won many a victory un- 
der Ziska, who was now entirely blind: the most decisive 
one at Deutschbrod, in Moravia, in 1421. The far-famed 
warlike spirit of the German nation seemed to be lost. It 
was clearly seen how dangerous was the unbridled fi-eedom 
of the individual princes and cities, when such an enemy was 
to be met. In spite of many eflbrts, no lasting peace and no 
common principles of action could be reached. Some kept 
negotiating ; others disobeyed the imperial levy ; the cities 
and the nobles threw the burden each on the other; and if 
a national army were at any time really mustered, it dispersed 
before a decisive action was fought. At the passing of the 
river Tau, the papal legate, son of an English king, in his 
wrath at the cowardly conduct of the soldiers, tore the im- 
perial banner to pieces, and flung them at the feet of the 
nobles. But to no purpose : courage and honor seemed gone ; 
and it was plain that the German nation had lost with its 
imperial constitution all its valor. After a last effort in 
1431, all attempts to conquer Bohemia by force were aban- 
doned. 

§ 22. In this state of the empire, Sigismund gave up the 
thought of reforming it, and, abandoning it to itself, devoted 
his attention exclusively to his own princely territories. 
During his expedition to Italy in 1431 and the two following 
years, he was crowned as king at Milan, and as emperor at 
Rome ; but, like some of his predecessors, he used these lofty 
dignities only for his own profit and that of his hereditary 



Chap. XI. BOHEMIA RECONCILED. 285 

territories. Philip the Good, a member of the ducal house 
of Burgundy, which was now rapidly growing in power, 
could not be prevented from acquiring, at the expense of the 
empire, first Luxemburg and Namur, and finally Holland. 
Sigismund had also, some time before, fallen out with his old 
friend, Frederick of Hohenzollern, to whom, at the Council 
of Constance, he had ceded his electorate of Brandenburg. 
His efforts, now that the house of Luxemburg w^as sure to 
become extinct at his death, was to secure all that he had 
acquired to Albert of Austria, the husband of his only daugh- 
ter, Elizabeth. The Council of Basle (1431-1443), from which 
the people hoped for the reformation of which that of Con- 
stance had disappointed them, made a bold attack on clerical 
abuses ; but the po])e had influence enough to remove it, 
first to Ferrara, and then to Florence ; and though the bold- 
est of the fathers remained behind and elected a new pope, 
yet their patience finally wore out, and the council came to 
nothing. Meanwhile the Hussites for a time, in wild hordes 
bent on plunder, made their way to the Danube, the Rhine, 
and even the Baltic ; but after the death of their leader, Zis- 
ka, they broke up into parties. The Council of Basle medi- 
ated between Sigismund and the moderate party among the 
Bohemians (the Calixtines), and by the treaty of Iglau 
(1436), a little before his death, he assured to them their re- 
ligious freedom, and was at last acknowledged as their king. 
Sigismund died at Gnaira, December 9, 1437. He bequeath- 
ed the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia to his son-in-law, Al- 
bert, and thus founded the power of the house of Hapsburg; 
while the other great German dynasty of the present time, 
the house of Hohenzollern, also grew to much of its great- 
ness under Sigismund, and upon lands which had belonged 
to the Luxemburirs. 




Albert II. (143T-]4oS»). 



CHAPTER XII. 

FROM THE ACCESSION OF ALBERT II. TO THE REFORMATION, 

1438-1517. 

§ I. The House of Hohenzollern. § 2. The House of Hapsburg. § 3. Al- 
bert II. of Austiia German King. § 4. Pope Eugene IV. and the Coun- 
cil of Basle. § 5. Election of Frederick III.; his Character and Corona- 
tion. § 6. Condition of Germany ; Civil Wars. § 7. The Prinzenraub. 
§ 8. The Turks in the East ; Affairs of Bohemia and Brandenburg. § 9. 
Charles the Bold of Burgundy. § 10. League of the Swiss Cantons ; 
their War with Charles. § 11. Overthrow of Charles the Bold; his 
Death. § 12. Swiss Mercenaries. § 13. Achievements atid Death of 



Chai>. XII. HAPSBURG AND HOHENZOLLERN. 287 

Freiieiick III. § 14. Accession and Character of Maximilian. § l.'S. The 
Electoral Princes at this Period. § 16. The Public Peace Proclaimed at 
Wonns; Circles of Justice Established. § 17. Constitutional Changes in 
the Elmpire. § 18. Disputes between Maximilian and the States ; Diet of 
Freiburg, 1498. § 19. War with Prance and the Swiss; Peace of Easle. 
§ 20. Diet of Augsburg in 1500. § 21. The Electors United against the 
King. § 22. Maximilian Regains his Influence. § 23. He calls Himself 
" Emperor Elect." The League of Cambray. § 24. Final Division of the 
Empire into Circles ; the Constitution and Realm in Decay. § 25. The 
Frisians and their Country. § 20. The Frisian League. § 27. Its Wars 
with Denmark and Holland. § 28. Crusade against the Stedinger. Fate 
of the Frisians. § 29. The People of Ditmarsh and their Wars for Free- 
dom. 

§ 1. At the death of Sigismimcl, the two great dynasties, 
the Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns, met for the first time in a 
contest for the supreme power in Germany and Europe. 
Frederick of Brandenburg and Albert of Austria were the 
competitors, one of whom, it was evident, must obtain the 
imperial crown ; and their claims seemed to be nearly equal. 
Frederick had been a faithful friend and counselor of the 
empire throughout a long life ; Albert was the heir of Sigis- 
mund, and the most powerful of all the German princes. 
The rapid rise of each of these historic families demands a 
brief notice. 

The ancient castle of Ilohenzollern still stands, though 
much changed by repairs and extensions, in one of the fair- 
est regions of Suabian Wirtemberg, not far from the orig- 
inal homes of the Hohenstaufens and the Welfs. The title. 
Count of Zollern, was conferred by Henry IV. in the eleventh 
century ; and the extensive estates in Southern Wirtemberg 
remained in possession of one branch of the family, the Zol- 
lerns of Sigraaringen, were made a principality during the 
Thirty -Years' War, and finally came to the elder line, the 
royal family of Prussia, in 1849. In 1190 Henry VI. appoint- 
ed the Count of Zollern to the imperial office of Burgrave of 
Nuremberg. By fortunate marriages and prudent purchases, 
his descendants, w^ho retained the office, gradually acquired 
extensive estates in Franconia, Moravia, and Burgundy, and 
their wisdom and growing power steadily increased their 
weight in the councils of the German princes. We have 
seen that Rudolph of Hapsburg owed his crown to one of 



288 HISTORY OF GERMANY, Book III. 

them, Frederick III., in 1273; and in return for this service 
the dignity of Burgrave of Nuremberg was made hereditary 
in the ZoUern family. The next burgrave, Frederick IV., 
secured by his valor the decisive victory of Miihldorf for 
Lewis of Bavaria in 1322. The Emperor Charles IV. raised 
the family to the dignity of Princes of the Empire, and grant- 
ed them the right to work the mines within their territories 
— a royal right reserved by the Golden Bull to the electors 
alone. Frederick VI. was enriched by Sigismund with large 
gifts of money, and was made his deputy in Brandenburg in 
1411. The marches were in utter confusion, under the feuds 
and ravages of the unrestrained knighthood. Frederick re- 
duced them to order, and at the Council of Constance, in 
1417, received from Sigismund the margraviate of Branden- 
burg with the dignity of Elector; but Sigismund soon be- 
came jealous of his growing power, and gave all his influ- 
ence to the rival house of Hapsburg. 

§ 2. The Hapsburg family first rose to importance in the 
empire in the person of the Swiss Count Rudolph, who was 
elected emperor in 1273. Its family estates originally lay 
around Lake Constance, with detached lands in Suabia and 
in Alsace. In 1282 Austria and Styria, as Ave have seen, 
were secured to the Hapsburgs. The duchy of Austria 
grew out of the eastern march of Bavaria. It included the 
land on both shores of the Danube, divided by the Ems into 
the territory above and that below the Ems. This beautiful 
and fruitful land, watered by a river hardly less magnificent 
than the Rhine, bounded on the north by the plateaus of 
Bohemia and Moravia, and on the south by the Alps, whose 
offshoots afford every variety of hill and valley, and some- 
times stretch out even to the Danube, was at a very early 
period entirely appropriated by Germans. It became the 
theatre of heroic legend, of the pilgrimages and battles of 
the Nibelungen ; and by the ancient ducal house of the Ba- 
benbergs, to whom Vienna owes its first prosperity, was 
opened every where to German civilization, language, and 
song. The people were of Bavarian descent ; but, like the 
Tyrolese, had grown to have a distinct character and life of 
their own, and were open - hearted, full of merriment, and 
faithful. Austria from the first was less dependent on the 



Chap. XII. THE REIGN OF ALBERT II. 289 

empire than the other duchies. The Hapsburgs steadily in- 
creased their possessions by fortunate marriages ; but Fred- 
erick " of the empty pocket," who assisted John XXII. to 
escape from the Council of Constance, and thus fell under the 
ban of Sigismund, lost a great part of his old family lands in 
war with the Swiss. Albert V. of Austria (Albert II. of 
Germany) was, at the death of Sigismund, the head of the 
Hapsburg family, and he inherited in right of his wife, Sigis- 
inund's daughter, the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary, mak- 
ing him by far the most powerful prince of the empire. 

§ 3. The electors were influenced in Albert's favor by the 
fact that the territories he inherited from Sigismund lay out- 
side of Germany, and that his eftbrts would naturally be de- 
voted to these rather than to the empire; and their desire 
was for an emperor who would leave them to themselves. 
The majority of them, therefore, decided for Albert, and the 
I'est acceded, March 18, 1438; and thus the house of Austria 
obtained the imperial throne, which it afterward held so long. 
Albert II. (1438, 1439) was a man of power, thoughtful and 
self-contained, but bold and enterprising. The Hungarians, 
however, did not accept the decision of the electors, but 
clung to their own king, and united in a solemn vow that 
Albert should not receive the imperial crown without their 
consent. But the mediation of the Council of Basle, which 
was still in session, pacitied them. The main purpose of Al- 
bert, during his short reign, was to establish the public peace ; 
and the plan adopted was that which had already been re- 
peatedly attempted under the Luxemburgs, of dividing the 
empire into "circles" or "large districts," for the collection 
of imperial revenues and the enforcement of military levies, 
as well as for the administration of high courts of justice. 
The whole empire, as well as Albert's own territories, was in 
great need of such an organization, for the Turks were al- 
ready threatening Hungary and Germany. The circles into 
which the empire, except Austria and Bohemia, was to be 
divided were defined at once; but the cities again resisted 
the scheme, fearing M'ith some reason that they would be 
overreached. Albert led an Austro-Hungarian army to the 
Theiss, to meet the Turks ; but before he could reach Vienna, 
most of his men dispersed, and he was taken sick and died, 

U 



290 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

October 27, 1439, at the age of forty-two. He had not been 
crowned at Aix, nor even entered the empire as its head. 
He was remembered as an lionorable monarch, strenuous in 
the Catholic faith, who rarely laughed, and still more rarely 
drew his sword from his side. 

§ 4. Meanwhile the conflict between Pope Eugene and the 
General Council of Basle continued. At the meeting of the 
electors after Sigismund's death, embassadors appeared from 
both the pope and the council, each party eager to obtain the 
influence of the German princes. But the electors refused to 
take any part in the quarrel, and even went so far as to de- 
cree, March 17, 1438, that, until this strife should be decided, 
the Church in Germany should be nnder the control and guid- 
i ance of the German bishops alone. A Diet was held at Nu- 
remberg in July, which Albert H. was prevented from at- 
tending, he being engaged in his own kingdom of Bohemia 
suppressing the revolt ; but the embassadors of the council 
appeared, asking for aid against the pope. The states re- 
mained neutral ; but at a Diet held in February following, at 
Mayence, an attempt was made by the Germans to mediate 
between the ecclesiastical parties, by urging the council to 
accept the pope's order of adjournment to some German city. 
The council, however, would concede nothing. This Diet 
gave its express sanction to such ordinances of reform as the 
council had adopted affecting the interests of Germany ; and, 
with a few modifications, the reforming decrees of the Coun- 
cil of Basle were made laws of the empire. The effect was 
materially to qualify the supremacy of the pope over the Ger- 
man Church. The council, too, although the Diet would not 
espouse its cause, was encouraged by its action to prosecute 
the struggle. It repeatedly summoned Pope Eugene IV. to 
appear for trial, and upon his persistent neglect to obey, on 
June 25, 1439, decreed his deposition. In November follow- 
ing, Amadeus of Savoy was elected his successor, and called 
himself Pope Felix V. But neither he nor the council had 
the power to supplant Pope Eugene. 

§ 5. Upon Albert's death, the selfish ambition of the elect- 
ors alone controlled their choice of a successor. They agreed 
upon Albert's cousin, Frederick of Styria, a man only too well 
known, and from whom no good could be expected. Fred- 



Chap. XI I. A SLUGGARD ON THE THRONE. 



291 




Frederick III. (1440-149;i). 

ei'ick III. (1440-1493) was an eccentric and obstinate youth, 
with the disposition of a gvaybeard : an invincible sluggard, 
who would never act with decision, nor cause others to act for 
him, but awaited events. He had made a pilgrimage to Je- 
rusalem, and was devoted to the papacy, so that no one wel- 
comed his election more than the pope, to whom he readily 
surrendered whatever privileges the German nation had been 
permitted by the Councils of Constance and Basle to retain. 
It was characteristic of him to pursue far-sighted plans, while 
weak and shiftless in mattei'.'* of immediate moment. His first 
important effort was to regain for Austria the ancient Haps- 
burg possessions in Switzerland.. The Diet refused to aid 
him, and he stooped to ask and receive assistance from King 



292 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

Charles of France, thus affording an opportunity, which that 
ambitious neighbor improved to the utmost, to interfere in 
German affairs. But the Swiss maintained tlieir independ- 
ence. Frederick's reign accomplished nothing for the empire. 
There was still constant talk of the " National Peace," but it 
was not until 1442 that Frederick came to Germany, to his first 
imperial Diet at Frankfort, and assumed the crown at Aix 
(June 17). Even then the old and bloody custom of private 
vengeance was maintained, and the consequent social disor- 
der continued. In 1446 the emperor ordained a national 
peace of five years, but nobody obeyed. It was proposed to 
establish a supreme tribunal in the empire — an imperial judg- 
ment-chamber — but the emperor himself did not adopt the 
plan. Frederick III. went to Rome, and received from Nich- 
olas V. the crown of the Caesars with much pomp, March 19, 
1452; but the empty form added nothing to his honor or his 
power. In 1456 the electors, disheartened by the condition 
of the country and the emperor's neglect of his duty, form- 
ally summoned him to meet them at Nuremberg ; threaten- 
ing, if he should fail to do so, to take the affairs of the empire 
into their own hands. He did not come; and in 1460 they 
notified him that they could no longer live without a head, 
and demanded a meeting with him at once, under still strong- 
er threats. They then planned to make George Podiebrad, 
King of Bohemia, Roman king; but Pope Pius II., shocked 
(at the thought of seeing a Hussite on the German throne, at 
once formed a zealous alliance with Frederick III., and brought 
their schemes to naught. From this time the papal and the 
imperial authority in the empire were more intimately asso- 
ciated than ever before. 

§ 6. Meanwhile Germany was in the wildest confusion. 
The troops which France sent to assist Frederick III. were 
the notorious "Arraagnacs:" the rabble of mercenaries who 
were discharged after serving under Count Armagnac in the 
war with England, and who spread in armed bands over 
France, plundering the land. These w^ere gathered again, 
and sent to Switzerland under the dauphin ; but being check- 
ed by the Swiss in the terrible fight at St. James on the Birs 
(1444), in which 1600 Swiss, surrounded by vastly greater 
numbers, sold their lives dearly, resisting to the last, they 



Chap. XII. RAPE OF THE SAXON PRINCES. 293 

refused to meet such foes again. They lurked in Alsace and 
Suabia, and resumed their bandit life, until the French were 
compelled, by threats of a national war, to remove them. In 
1449 a new city war broke out in Suabia and Franconia, be- 
tween a new confederacy of thirty-one cities and the princes 
of Brandenburg, Baden, Austria, and Wirtemberg, and ended 
only with the destruction of the confederacy. Nor were the 
east and north of Germany at peace. In 142.3, Frederick the 
Quarrelsome of Meissen was made elector by Sigismund, with 
the fief of Saxe-Wittenberg, the ancient house of the Ascanii 
being extinct. Frederick's sons, Frederick the Gentle and 
William, waged a bitter fraternal war from 1445 to 1450. 
During one of their battles, an artillery captain proposed to 
Frederick to point a great gun at Duke William, and by one 
shot to relieve Frederick from all rivalry ; but he answered, 
" Shoot where thou wilt, but not at my brother." 

§ 7, It was during this war that the famous " rape of the 
Saxon princes" occurred. Kuntz of Kauflfingen, a Saxon 
knight, who had rendered large services to Frederick the 
Gentle, and was dissatisfied with his reward, conceived the 
bold plan of carrying off Frederick's sons, Ernest and Albert, 
from their residence in the castle of Altenburg. He succeeded 
in taking them to the forest; but the younger escaped, at a 
halting-place, from his keeper, who was seized by some char- 
coal-burners, well disciplined ("drilled"), and given up to 
the elector. The older prince was also rescued ; and Kuntz 
was taken and executed (1455). This event derives its his- 
torical interest and fame from the reflection that, had Kuntz's 
enterprise succeeded, much that is conspicuous in subsequent 
records might have been different. These two princes, then 
but boys, afterward, in 1485, divided the Saxon lands between 
them ; and they became the ancestors of the two Saxon lines — 
the elder or Ernestine line, which resided in Wittenberg, and 
the younger, or Albertine, whose homes were in Leipsic and 
Dresden. Of the elder line were the Electors of Saxony, who 
took a famous part in the Reformation ; also the houses of 
Saxe -Weimar and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, with the late Prince 
Albert of England, " the silent father of her kings to be." 
Of the younger line were Maurice of Saxony, elector in 1546, 
August II., King of Poland, and his descendants, the present 



294 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book HI. 

royal house of Saxony. About the same time with these 
Saxon troubles, war broke out among the branches of the 
house of Bavaria (Wittelsbach). Albert Achilles, Burgrave 
of Nuremberg — a giant in stature, an eloquent orator, and the 
most famous for personal valor of the warriors of that age — 
was busy with feuds against the Wittelsbachs and the South 
German cities. Frederick the Victorious, who had driven 
out his nephew from the Palatinate, retained the sovereignty 
there until his death in 14V6 : in spite of emperor, pope, and 
barons. In his most famous victory, that at Seckenheim in 
1462, he took prisoners the Count of Wirtemberg, the Mar- 
grave of Baden, and the Bishop of Metz. They purchased 
their release with royal ransoms ; and he then entertained 
them splendidly at the Heidelberg Castle, but gave them no 
bread. They expressed their surprise, but Frederick answer- 
ed that they had destroyed his peasants' crops, and might 
now see what life would be without bread. In Westphalia, 
too, an old quarrel, f^xmous as " the Soest feud," was fought 
out for five years, from 1444 to 1449. Dietrich, Archbishop 
of Cologne, tried to exact tithes from tlie city of Soest. The 
citizens resisted, and were sustained by neighboring cities, 
while the prelate found allies in the Bishops of Mlinster and 
Hildesheim, the Count of Nassau, and other lords. West- 
phalia was devastated by the strife, but the people of Soest 
defended themselves well ; and in the end the archbishop ced- 
ed the city to the duchy of Cleves and Mark. All these dis- 
turbances occurred in Germany almost at the same time, nor 
was any elFort made by the emperor to put an end to them. 
He had not the power, indeed, to guard the public peace. 

§ 8. In this condition the empire was helpless against for- 
eign foes, and its very existence was threatened by the Turks. 
As early as 1370 this fierce people invaded Europe, and at- 
tacked the ancient Eastern or Byzantine Empire ; and soon 
after they advanced toward Hungary. In 1399 Sigismund, 
with an army gathered from all Western Christendom, suf- 
fered a severe defeat from them at Nicopolis. Finally, on 
May 29, 1453, they took Constantinople by storm, and were 
able to found an empire. in Europe, south of the Danube. 
They continued to press forward into Hungary, and in 1469 
for the first time crossed the frontier of Germany. The empire 



Chap. XIJ. THE TURKS THREATEN THE EMPIRE. 295 

was in danger, as well as the emperor's own territories ; but 
it was in utter confusion ; every body followed Frederick III.'s 
own example of entire indifference to its fate, and no nation- 
al army marched to defend it. One Diet was held after an- 
other, bu.t nothing was so much as resolved upon, the cities 
being especially cold and selfish ; and all seemed ready to 
yield to the Turks dishonorably, without a struggle. In Bo- 
hemia and Hungary the interests of the empire were in no 
better condition. After Albert II. died, his only son, Ladis- 
laus "Posthumus," was born. Frederick III., who, with all 
his sloth, was covetous of land, and cunning and unscrupulou!^ 
in acquiring it, would have been glad to obtain the child's 
inheritance, Bohemia and Hungary, Yor himself But disor- 
ders broke out in both countries. Ladislaus died young, and 
native nobles seized upon the local sovereignty. In Bohe- 
mia, which was part of the empire, though inhabited mainly 
by Sclavonic people, George of Podiebrad, supported by the 
old Hussite party, attained a power which was dangerous to 
the neighboring German districts. The Hungarians elevated 
to the throne Matthias Corvinus, who finally succeeded in 
driving Frederick from the land, seizing Vienna, his capital 
city, and holding it till he died. In the northeast, the Poles 
and Lithuanians, united under the royal house of the Jagel- 
lons, troubled the country of the German knights, gaining a 
great victory at Tannenberg in 1410, and finally, in 1406, 
completely conquering it, and obtaining from the Order the 
Peace of Thorn, by which most of its land was ceded to Po- 
land, and the fraction retained was held as a fief of that king- 
dom, Neither emperor nor empire cared to interfere, while 
thus Sclaves and Hungarians, so long subject to the Ger- 
mans, again became masters of the East and dangerous neigh- 
bors to Germany. It was fortunate that in Brandenburg, at 
least, a barrier of German force was set up against their 
encrpachments by the Hohenzollern Frederick II., " the iron 
prince." 

§ 9, An equally dangerous enemy of the empire was grow- 
ing up in the West. A collateral branch of the French royal 
fomily were dukes of Burgundy ; and, by inheritance or con- 
quest, they had succeeded in acquiring all the tei-ritory for- 
merly callec\Lo\v«r Lorraine, including the lands around the 



'296 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

mouths of the Rhine, with the regions of the Maas and the 
Scheldt. This duchy of Burgundy reached its greatest power 
under Charles the Bold (1467-1477), son of Philip the Good. 
Charles strove to extend his power up the Rhine ; and all the 
territory west of this river w^as threatened with subjection to 
French sovereignty. In a quarrel with his own chapter, the 
Archbishop of Cologne called on Charles for help ; and in 1474 
the duke besieged in his behalf the city of Neuss, on the 
Rhine, which belonged to Cologne. It was due, not to the 
sluggish movement of the imperial army to its relief, but 
solely to the heroic resistance of the city itself, that the duke's 
progress was checked here. The citizens repulsed fifty-six 
storming parties, and held out through a siege of ten months. 
But the worst of all was that the emperor himself was in se- 
cret negotiation with the public enemy, desiring to w^ed his 
son Maximilian to the only daughter of the rich duke. They 
had already had an interview the year previous at Treves, 
where Charles outshone the emperor in splendor. The em- 
peror's jealousy had then broken off the treaty ; but it was 
now renewed : Charles promised his daughter in marriage 
to Maximilian, and Frederick dismissed the imperial army 
(1475). 

§ 10. But before the restoration of harmony between Fi-ed- 
erick III. and Charles of Burgundy, the latter was in trouble 
elsewhere. Sigismund, Archduke of Austiia and Tyrol, had 
delivered Alsace to Charles in pledge, and Charles had set 
over it as steward a tyrannical and unjust man, whom the 
people of Breisach seized and put to death in 1474. The 
rebels found allies in the Swiss confederation, and the Em- 
peror Frederick encouraged the insurrection, and invited the 
Swiss to invade Upper Burgundy. Upon coming to terms 
with Charles, however, he abandoned their cause, and refused 
to afford any protection to Lorraine' against the ambitious 
duke. Charles the Bold hastened, Avith all his forces, to pun- 
ish the Swiss, who now felt the full danger which threatened 
their liberties. He w^as among the first princes in Europe to 
discern the superior efiiciency of professional soldiers, and to 
form a thoroughly disciplined standing army. The large 
body of troops he had now collected, consisting of Burgun- 
dians, Netherlanders, and Italians, had probably never been 



Chap. XII. CHARLES THE BOLD DEFEATED. 297 

equaled in Europe. From Upper Burgundy he marched 
tlirough the passes of the Jura. The castle of Granson, on 
Lake Neuenburg, made a valiant defense, until the garrison, 
deceived by false promises, surrendered ; when some of them 
were hanged up naked on trees, and others drowned in the 
lake. But the confederates M^ere already on the march. 
Charles, with three times their force, rested with his right 
wing on the lake, his left against the Jura Mountain. Thus 
the battle of Granson was fought, March 3, 14V6. The heavy 
bodies of knights had scarcely checked the stormy charge of 
the Swiss, when from the mountains echoed the horn of " the 
Bull of Uri," and ever anew small bands of Swiss leaped out 
of the vineyards and thickets. The Burgundians, who had 
just been boasting of a triumph, were panic-struck ; their 
lines broke in hurried flight, and left their richly furnished 
camp, with all their splendors of gold, silk, and jewels, to the 
conquerors, 

§ 11. Charles, put to shame in his plans of universal con- 
quest, thirsted for revenge, and in three months brought a 
still greater army into the tield. From Lausanne he advanced 
toward Berne, But again the battle summons of the Swiss 
went through their land, and " from the huts on the verge of 
eternal snow to the junction of the Aar with the Rhine," their 
men thronged to meet hitn. They met the duke at Murten 
on the lake, a place which was well defended by the Bernese, 
and which he had invested in vain ; and the decisive battle 
was fought June 22, 1476. Once more, after the usual bat- 
tle-prayer, and mutual exhortations that " every man should 
open his eyes and close his hands firmly, to strike strongly 
like a man," the Swiss plunged irresistibly among the missiles 
and spears of the foe. Another panic struck the Burgundi- 
ans, followed by a flight like that at Granson, and a still more 
bloody defeat. Messengers with green branches, as heralds 
of victory, hastened to all the Swiss cities ; and a universal 
ringing of the bells carried the glorious news high among the 
Alps. The whole German people joined in the celebration, 
for a foe of the German race and of German freedom was 
overthrown. Charles was distracted in mind from that day. 
When the Swiss once more marched against him, to assist 
Rene of Lorraine to recover his land, they met at Nancy, 



298 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

January 5, 1477, only the shadow of his former greatness. 
Here the proud duke fell, while in flight, by the hand of a 
Swiss, and his disfigured corpse was hardly recognized. The 
victory was hailed throughout the empire as that of the Ger- 
man people ; but there was no one who took less delight in 
it than the Emperor Frederick III. 

§ 12. The freedom of the Swiss and the renown of their 
invincible mode of warfare wer.e now established. The vic- 
tories over Austria and Burgundy had shown how superior 
an agile infantry was to the heavy, unmanageable, armored 
knights. The Swiss infantry were at once in demand as mer- 
cenaries, especially in the service of the Italian princes and 
the King of France. Thousands of them left their homes to 
seek in foreign pay booty and pleasure, and spread the fame 
of their arms on every battle-field of Italy. But after this 
time the events of Switzerland no longer belong to the his- 
tory of Germany. At the battle of Marignan, in 1515, large 
numbers of Swiss mercenaries fought against King Francis I. 
of France, and wrought wonders of valor, though finally de- 
feated ; and Francis, in his admiration for their excellence as 
soldiers, made with them the so-called "Eternal Peace" of 
1516, by which they were to receive an annuity, and were to 
permit the king to raise troops in their country. This habit 
of foreign service corrupted the honest simplicity and faith- 
fulness of the Swiss character, and foreign vices invaded the 
Alpine valleys. But Switzerland can hardly be regarded, 
after this time, as in any sense a part of the German Empire ; 
although the formal recognition of its separation, as a prin- 
ciple of public law, was not promulgated until the Peace of 
Westphalia, in 1648. 

§ 13. During the old age of Frederick III. the hereditary 
possessions of his house were greatly extended. King Mat- 
thias of Hungary, indeed, as long as he lived, retained pos- 
session of Austria and Vienna; and Frederick was actually 
hunted from his own land, and lived as a fugitive in the em- 
pire ; bearing the title of universal monarch, yet dependent 
for his table on the hospitality of cities and monasteries, and 
with a yoke of oxen for his train. It was the fixed habit of 
his mind to regard events with the calmness of a mere ob- 
server, even when they most nearly concerned himself He 



Chap. XII. RAPID GROWTH OF AUSTRIA IN POWER. 299 

was a practical philosopher; he meddled with astrology, 
medicine, and physiognomy. Injuries and offenses which 
roused other men to fury were judged by him without emo- 
tion. When Matthias spoiled and oppressed his Austrian 
subjects, Frederick had no pity for them : "They deserved it 
all ; they would not obey me, and now, like the fabled frogs, 
they must endure King Stork." But under his apparent in- 
difference he maintained his. own purposes with great per- 
sistence. He steadily pursued the aggrandizement of his 
family, and succeeded in obtaining Mary of Burgundy as 
Avife to his son Maximilian. They were married at Ghent, 
August 19, 1477, and thus the house of Austria obtained the 
vast heritage of Charles the Bold. It was with reluctance 
that Frederick consented to share the royal title even with 
his son. For many years he confined Maximilian to an Ital- 
ian county, saying, "The rest he will get soon enough." 
But the electors knew that Maximilian was burning with 
zeal to recover Austria, and, in return for help in this enter- 
prise, would yield much to them which Frederick refused, 
especially in the matter of appointing the members of the 
imperial court of justice. Accordingly, when the emperor's 
consent was obtained, Maximilian was unanimously elected 
"King of the Romans," February 16, 1486; and he at once 
took such a share in the administration of the empire as his 
father was willing to give him. By promising the electors 
that the high tribunal of justice should be independent of 
the emperor, Maximilian obtained their aid against the ene- 
mies of Austria. At this time King Matthias died ; Maxi- 
milian drove the Hungarians out of Austria, occupied Vien- 
na, and was welcomed with enthusiasm by the whole people. 
Frederick's last military success was the reduction to sub- 
mission, in 1492, of his son-in-law, Albert, Duke of Bavaria, 
who had supported the cause of Matthias, and who still re- 
fused to regard the imperial edicts, attend the Diet, or keep 
the public peace, until overwhelmed by the superior force of 
the emperor and of the " Suabian League," formed in 1488, 
for the maintenance of public order and of Suabian rights 
and laws. Thus, before the end of Frederick's reign, the 
house of Austria was raised to the position of an impoi'tant 
European power. The dignity of the empire was indeed se- 



300 



HISTORY OF GERMANY 



Book III. 




Maximilian I. (1493-1519). 

riously impaired ; but the Diets were better organized than 
ever before, the public peace was in great measure establish- 
ed, the great feuds which had distracted the empire were 
ended. Frederick III. gloried in the aggrandizement of his 
family, and adopted as his device, on his plate and buildings, 
the famous initial letters, A. E. I. O, M. (" Austria est impe- 
rare orbi universo" — "The whole earth is subject to Aus- 
tria"). He died August 19, 1493, after a reign of tifty-tive 
years. 

§ 14. Maximilian, already elect "King of the Romans," 
quietly succeeded his father. He was now thirty-four years 
of age; a man of noble disposition and fine culture; eccen- 



Chap. Xir. THE LAST OF THE GERMAN KNIGHTS. 301 

trie, amiable, of diversified tastes and unwearying activity. 
He has been well called the last of the German knights. His 
tall form, hardened and strengthened by every physical ex- 
ercise, his spirited blue eye, and his long and waving blonde 
hair, gave him before the people the aspect of a true king. 
He was often rash, almost to madness, as when he followed 
a bear to his den, and fought him there; when he entered 
the lion's cage, and cowed him down ; and, above all, when 
he chased the chamois and the wild-goat up to the highest 
peaks of the Tyrolese Alps. He was a soldier, too, not to be 
overcome by exertion and privation, and, like his ancestor 
Rudolph, fertile in new devices and cunning modes .of attack. 
He could forge his own armor and his sword, and often took 
his spear on his shoulder, and marched on foot before his 
troops. He had also received a broad and varied education, 
under his father's supervision. He was thus a man so w^ell 
furnished, in all respects, that he might becomingly set be- 
fore him the example of Charlemagne, and think of restoring 
the ancient glories of the empire. But his genius was un- 
fortunately bent upon adventurous schemes, rather than upon 
obvious and necessary work, and he too soon became occu- 
pied beyond the empire. 

§ 15. At the close of the fifteenth century, most of the 
electoral principalities of Germany were held by valiant and 
patriotic men. At the head of them all was Berthold, Arch- 
bishop of Mayence, a count of the house of Henneberg. 
Mayence had suifered a severe blow to its prosperity in 1462, 
when the pope arbitrarily deposed the elector Diether, and 
appointed Adolphns II. of Nassau in his j:)lace. The people 
of the city supported Diethei-; but by treachery one of their 
gates was opened, and Adolphus entered with his troops, 
overcoming all resistance, and destroyed not only the inde- 
pendence, but the wealth and beauty of the city. But in 
1486 Berthold became elector; a man of quiet efficiency, of 
broad statesmanship, and of earnest patriotism. He was the 
leading political reformer of his times. It was through his 
influence that Maximilian, in 1489, abandoned his father's 
policy of a dependent chamber of justice. His see, which 
from the time of the missionary Boniface had been the most 
powerful in Germany, reached the height of its ascendency 



302 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

iiiuier hini. The city of Mayence was restored to more than 
its former prosperity, and was strongly fortified. Among 
the electors at this period were also Frederick the Wise 
of Saxony, John Cicero of Brandenburg, and Everard, first 
Duke of Wirtemberg, all of them, in wisdom and true patri- 
otism, worthy associates of Berthold, and all deeply impress- 
ed with the need of a better and permanent organization of 
the empire. Frederick III. was not buiied before the Turks 
again advanced as far as Laibach. In Italy, Maximilian be- 
came involved in new wars and disputes, by his second mar- 
riage, celebrated March 16, 1494, with Blanca Maria, of the 
house of Sforza, then sovereign in Milan. The French, too, 
from the year 1494, began to carry their ambition and their 
conquests into Italy. Maximilian was eager to reduce the 
empire to peace and quiet, in order to devote his attention to 
Italian aff"airs, in the hope that it would help to protect his 
own dominions against the Turks, and would at least not 
embarrass him in other matters. The electors also desired 
peace, and a better constitution of the realm ; but they were 
resolved still further to limit the royal prerogatives, which 
Maximilian wished to extend. 

§ 16. Maximilian's first Diet, assembled at Worms, March 
26, 1495, and in his opening address the emperor declared 
that if the enterprises of France were longer permitted, " the 
Holy Roman Empire would be wrested from the German na- 
tion," Pie demanded the whole power of the empire against 
France. The Diet, however, thought the time propitious for 
internal reform, and actually laid before him a comprehensive 
draft of a new constitution, in which an imperial council, un- 
der the mere presidency of the emperor, should hold the 
purse and the sword. After long negotiations, in which the 
helplessness of the emperor became ever more manifest, a 
compromise was reached. In the first place, the Public Peace 
was proclaimed, August 7, as a permanent law ; and the right 
of private revenge was forever abolished. The imperial cham- 
ber of justice, which Maximilian had hitherto, like his father, 
treated as an appendage of his person, was established on an 
'independent basis, as he had promised six years before. The 
president of the court alone was to be named by the emper- 
or, the other judges by the states general; and it was to 



Chap. XII. THE PUBLIC PEACE ESTABLISHED. 303 

sit always in one city, and no longer to follow the person of 
the monarch. Its powers, too, were greatly enlarged ; and 
it was even authorized to pronounce the ban of the empire 
independently of the emperor. This tribunal was actually 
opened in Frankfort, October 31, 1495. Its jurisdiction was 
supreme over controversies among the nobility. The Diet 
also voted an imperial tax — "the universal penny:" a sort 
of capitation tax on the population at large, w'ith a property 
tax upon the rich of one tenth of one per cent. But neither 
the collection nor the expenditure of the money was confided 
to the king. Both were reserved for the general assembly 
of the states of the empire, to be convoked every year, with- 
out whose consent the emperor could begin no war. Even 
the execution of the ban, pronounced by the chamber of jus- 
tice, was confided to this assembly. Thus something like a 
formal constitution, partaking of the nature of a monarchy 
and of a confederation, was devised ; and sanguine men re- 
garded the event as a political reformation of the empire. 
That part of the work which really proved to be of moment- 
ous importance was the establishment of the perpetual peace, 
after a century of efforts. 

§ 17, The peace proclaimed at the Diet of Worms in 1495 
was declared to be permanent and national. The absolute 
need of the maintenance of civil order, the suppression of 
feuds, and the establishment of an efficient judiciary was felt 
and acknowledged by all ; and though the new law obtained 
recognition but gradually, yet it soon contributed very large- 
ly to the security of trade and of the industrial classes, as 
well as of the minor nobility. 

But it came too late to prevent the disintegration of the 
empire, which was now nearly complete. Since the prince- 
doms had become hereditary, since independent countries 
had grown up out of the great fiefs of the empire, and the 
ancient popular division into districts (Gauen) had been lost, 
the " States-General," or " States of the Empire," as the sev- 
eral members of the imperial Diet were called, had become 
almost entirely independent. The Diets were for a long time 
formed chiefiy of the princes. It was only toward the end 
of the fifteenth century that the imperial cities and the 
knights of the empire were represented in them by deputies. 



304 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

From the time of Rudolph of Hapsburg, indeed, the cities of 
the empire had been often summoned, when their money was 
wanted; but they were first formally admitted, through the 
influence of Berthold of Mayence, in 1487. After this, when 
a resolution was to be formed, the electors used to deliberate 
first, and deliver their conclusion to the princes (relation) ; 
these considered it, and if approved, gave it to the cities 
(correlation), whose deputies then wrote home for instruc- 
tions. It was, of course, almost impossible to reach a result. 
After the changes made at the Diet of Worms, the empire 
might be regarded as a constitutional monarchy, with the 
emperor at its head, and the collected states of the empire at 
his side. But all was ruined at the beginning. The princes 
who were not electors had long regarded their territories as 
their private property, and had established the custom of 
dividing them among their sons. Thus their lands were di- 
vided into smaller and smaller portions. The princes also 
strove frequently to encroach on the freedom of the cities 
and the knights, and even to subjugate them, while they 
vigorously defended their independence. The princes found 
a check to their power in the cities, nobles, and clergy which 
were dependent upon them. For in their own territories the 
subordinate nobles and cities treated their authority as they 
did that of the empire, striving to throw it ofi". The princes 
themselves gave them opportunities for this. They needed 
money to support their state, to maintain them at court, to 
carry on wars, or to endow their daughters. Money was 
constantly becoming a greater power. But money taxes 
had not been known in the earlier days of the German Em- 
pire : personal services were the feudal tribute. The princes 
had neither right nor power to levy duties without the con- 
sent of those who i^aidthem. They Avere compelled to make 
a request for supplies of money ; and advantage was taken 
of their wants to set conditions upon the grant. Thus the 
" states " in the territories of the princes met often, and at 
last regularly. As their first right, they claimed that of 
granting supplies, and then, very often, that of superintend- 
ing the use of them. They went on to claim the right to be 
consulted whenever a new alliance or treaty was to be made, 
or the land divided anew ; and of course, when, as sometimes 



Chap. XII. THE DIET bTKUNGEK THAN THE THRONE. 305 

occurred, any part of the land was sold or mortgaged. Thus 
the princes found their power hampered just as they ham- 
pered that of the empire. In exchange for grants of money, 
they gave up to their " states " the old rights of the feudal 
lords, the judicial fees and forfeitures and the tolls; so that 
all the burden fell upon the poorer people, especially the 
peasants, who gradually sank under it into a condition inex- 
pressibly wretched. Yet the knight, who could not dispense 
with money, and the prince, who obtained it by making ever 
greater sacrifices of his inheritance, which was really his cap- 
ital, were not on the highway to prosperity. 

§ 18. The progress of the constitutional reform was slow 
and hesitating. When the chamber of justice undertook, 
February, 1496, to pronounce the ban of the empire, i\Iaxi- 
milian interfered with its execution. He also failed to collect 
" the universal penny " in his own dominions, as he had prom- 
ised. In the summer following, when a Diet was to assem- 
ble at Lindau, he sent orders to the members to bi-ing thither 
the strongest military force they could furnish, with the 
money already collected, and thence to follow him to Italy ; 
since he could not wait for them. But the Diet assembled at 
Lindau without troops or money, and the princes required 
the king's son, the Archduke Philip, to preside ; while, under 
the guidance of the Elector of Mayence, they proceeded to 
consider the internal aflairs of the empire. It was determined 
to restore the chamber of justice, and new guarantees were 
devised for its independence, and for the execution of its de- 
crees. The resolutions of Worms were re-enacted, with a 
zealous purpose to carry them out. In the spring of 1498 
Maximilian returned from the utter failure of his Italian ex- 
pedition, to find the empire wholly alienated from him. Re- 
solved to make war upon Louis XII., who at that time sue 
ceeded to the crown of France, he called a Diet to meet in 
June at Worms, and then, transferred it to Freiburg. Here 
he passionately demanded of the princes aid for a war against 
France, declaring that he would listen to no advice from them, 
knowing that they would protest against war. " He spoke," 
says an official record," with many wondrous words and gest- 
ures, very obscurely and unintelligibly." Berthold replied, 
" Your majesty is pleased to address us in parables, as Christ 

X 



306 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

his disciples." In short, the emperor's views and aims were 
directed to the aggrandizement of the house of Austria as an 
European power ; the Diet was concerned witli the state of 
the empire. While he strove to kindle them to passion, and 
hurry them into war, they calmly endeavored to control him 
and to limit his power. A compromise was at last reached, 
by which, as it proved, the king practically surrendered al- 
most every thing. The money needed for the imperial ad- 
ministration was promised, and much of it was paid in at 
once. The Diet agreed to support the war against Fi-ance ; 
but the king bound himself firmly to observe in all points 
the resolutions of Worms. This Diet was very active and 
successful in imj) roving the coinage, the criminal jurispru- 
dence, and the laws of inheritance of the realm. 

§ 19. Early in the autumn of 1498 Maximilian invaded 
Upper Burgundy, and then Champagne. Here, emboldened 
by some successes, he rejected a proposed armistice. But he 
was soon driven out of France by rain and floods, and entered 
Gueldres, During the winter, tlie Swiss, like most of his old 
allies in Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands, abandoned Maxi- 
milian and formed an alliance with France. The Swiss re- 
fused to pay the universal penny, and were richly paid by 
Louis XII. for service in his army as mercenaries. Maximil- 
ian strove to subdue them, but in a series of battles the Swiss, 
though suffering greatly from want, were uniformly victori- 
ous ; and Maximilian reluctantly accepted a peace, by the 
terms of which the Swiss confederacy was relieved of all tax- 
ation under the empire, and, in fact, of all subjection to its 
laws and government. This treaty, known as the Peace of 
Basle, was signed September 22, 1499. The French had al- 
ready taken Milan in August, so that all the honor and profit 
of the war remained with them. 

§ 20. Another Diet, important in the constitutional history 
of the empire, met at Augsburg, April 10, 1500. Here a 
new scheme for levying an army was adopted. Every four 
hundred inhabitants, assembling by parishes, should fit out a 
foot soldier. A permanent imperial council was established, 
to take the place of frequent Diets, and to serve as a standing 
committee of the states of the empire. For the purpose of 
representation in this council, (|j-id of judicial administration, 



Chap. XII. THE IMPERIAL COUNCIL. 307 

the empire was divided into six " circles," or, as they were 
at first called, "jirovinces," with a high tribunal of justice 
in each : namely, Franconia, Bavaria, Suabia, the Upper 
Rhine, Westphalia, and Lower Saxony. The emperor had 
no power in the imperial council, except to preside in per- 
son, or to name a vice-president. But the council itself pos- 
sessed extraordinary powers, as a supreme court of justice, 
civil and criminal, for many purposes as a legislature, and as 
a ministry of the empire for both foreign and home affairs. 
Maximilian yielded to all these encroachments on his prerog- 
ative, doubtless in the hope of obtaining aid, at last, to re- 
store the imperial dignity in a foreign war. But the levy 
of troops was very slowly made, and the council thwart- 
ed all the emperor's purposes by concluding an armistice 
with France, and proposing to yield Milan as a fief to that 
country. 

§ 21. In May, 1501, Maximilian visited the council, or "gov- 
ernment," at Nuremberg, and protested zealously against the 
disgrace thus brought upon liim and the empire. He then, 
in defiance of a resolution of the Diet that the king should 
grant no fief of the empire without consulting the electors, 
liimself granted the feudal dependencies of Milan to Louis XII. 
in person. Indeed, he soon threw the whole constitution of 
the realm into confusion. By embarrassing the action of the 
council and of the chamber of justice, and by withholding 
the pay of all their members, he caused those bodies to dis- 
solve. The electors justly apprehended that he might set up 
tools of his own in their places. They assembled at Geln- 
hausen, June 30, 1502, and pledged themselves to stand to- 
gether as one man in support of the reformed constitution, 
and to meet every three months to consider tlie aftViirs of the 
empire. It is believed that they even planned the deposi- 
tion of Maximilian, and there are traditions that only his per- 
sonal dignity and kingly bearing saved hira from the fate of 
Wenzel. They summoned a new Diet to meet in November. 
Maximilian, however, though afraid to countermand their 
summons, cunningly made it his own, proclaiming a Diet, in 
his name, at the same time and place ; and the electors at 
once withdrew their invitation. They finally brought to- 
gether an assembly at Mayence in June, 1503, but accom- 



308 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

plished nothing beyond warning and advising the king to 
adhere to the resohitions of Worms and Augsburg. 

§ 22. Maximilian meanwhile used what was left of the royal 
powers and prerogatives with the utmost skill and energy 
in strengthening his own position. He thus made many 
strong friends, among both the higher clergy and the princes. 
By carrying on a vigorous and successful war in 1504 against 
Rupert, Count Palatine, and thus depriving him of the inher- 
itance of Landshut, the king further enlarged his own pos- 
sessions in the empire. At the next Diet, held in February, 
1505, at Cologne, he appeared with a splendor and a power 
such as no emperor had possessed for some generations. The 
leader of the reforming electors, Berthold of Mayence, was 
dead. His strong supporter, the Elector of Treves, was also 
dead, and Maximilian's dependent and kinsman, Jacob of 
Baden, held the see. There was no longer a strong, organ- 
ized body of princes, resolved to enforce the principles of the 
Augsburg Diet. Theories of the constitution were now qui- 
etly abandoned, and practical questions met. The king de- 
manded supplies and troops for the expedition to Hungary, 
and then to Rome. They were granted. His plans in Hun- 
gary were easily fulfilled ; and in February, 150V, he brought 
together the Diet at Costnitz, on the borders of Italy, and 
proclaimed a mai'ch to Rome to receive the imperial crown. 

§ 23. The states again granted his demands, but the troops 
were slowly collected ; and he arrived at Trient, with a con- 
siderable force and a splendid retinue, on February 3, 1508. 
Here he assumed the title of " Roman Emperor Elect," al- 
though none had been called emperor before until actually 
crowned at Rome. Pope Julius H., however, acquiesced in 
his assumption; and under its shelter the title "emperor" 
was afterward borne by all his successors in the empire, 
though but one of them ever received the papal consecration. 
The first attack was made upon the Venetians, but after some 
trifling successes, which filled Maximilian with confidence, 
the little republic brought into the field an army very supe- 
rior to his own, and drove him back at all points, so that he 
was compelled to return in haste to Germany and seek aid. 
The electors refused to do any tking more until a Diet could 
consider the question, and it was not until April 21, 1509, 



Chap. XII. ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE THE GOVERNMENT. 309 

that this assembly could be collected at Worms. Meanwhile, 
in December, Maximilian suddenly changed his foreign pol- 
icy, whose main feature had been a bitter jealousy of France, 
and concluded the League of Cambray with Louis XIL for 
the humiliation of Venice and the division of its 2:)OSsessions. 
This act, and his arbitrary course in home affairs, entirely 
alienated the Diet from the emperor, and they decisively re- 
fused to aid him further, Maximilian carried on the war, 
with the resources of his Austrian dominions, until 1510, 
when Louis XIL quarreled with him, and the League of 
Cambray was broken ; he then concluded an armistice with 
Venice. 

§ 24. The disputes between the emperor and the states, 
upon the administration of the laws, were carried on in suc- 
cessive annual Diets. That which met at Treves, and after- 
ward adjourned to Cologne, in 1512, effected a new agree- 
ment, in which Maximilian again surrendered most of his 
claims. The division into circles was confirmed, and extend- 
ed to cover the whole empire : Saxony and Brandenburg 
forming the seventh, the four Rhine electorates the eighth, 
Austria the ninth, and Burgundy the tenth circle. " Cap- 
tains " were to be appointed in each circle by the " states," to 
enforce the laws and decrees of the imperial chamber. Eight 
councilors were to be named, who should attend the emper- 
or's court, and form a sort of ministry. But none of these 
appointments appear to have been made, and even the divis- 
ion into circles remained without practical importance until 
the Diet of Worms in 1521. The armistice with Venice came 
to an end in 1512, and for sevei'al succeeding years Max- 
imilian carried on the war with unabated personal energy, 
but with failing resources ; at times fighting with the French 
against the pope and Venice, and again with the pope and 
the English against the French. The empire was left to 
take care of itself, and for five years no Diet assembled. 
Meanwhile Germany was in confusion : a number of local 
civil wars were waged by princes upon one another or upon 
neighboring cities, and many of the cities were themselves 
torn by dissension and rebellion. Robber knights abounded 
in some parts of the empire, and bishops themselves asso- 
ciated tbr plunder. The dissatisfaction of the peasants and 



310 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

laborers, who ascribed all their sufferings to the wickedness 
of their rulers, became alarming. When at length the Diet 
met at Mayence, July 1, 1517, nothing was heard but com- 
plaints on every side: the inefficiency of the chamber of jus- 
tice, and the undue influence of powerful men over it ; the 
general disregard of law ; the disorders in the cities, the in- 
security of the highways, the oppression of widows and or- 
jjhans; these and other crying evils were laid before the 
states, who, however, did nothing but demand of the em- 
peror that he apply a remedy. Even at this time none of the 
rulers apprehended that the human mind was on the very eve 
of a revolution so momentous that it would completely ob- 
scure, by contrast, all the efforts and needs of Germany for a 
political refuim. 

§ 25, Here we must turn aside from the narrative of im- 
perial events to survey the course of a struggle for liberty 
long carried on in the northern part of the empire, and not 
less heroic and memorable than the storied wars of Swiss in- 
dependence. On the flat coasts of the Baltic Sea, the rich 
" march-lands," once the bed of the ocean, were also peopled 
by a remnant of the ancient free peasantry of the German 
race, whose history has hitherto scarcely touched that of the 
empire at large, but demands a brief retrosj^ect here. Their 
land was and is, in a peculiar sense, the creation of its inhab- 
itants. It would be swept to-day by each returning tide 
but for the dikes built to protect it. These form a continu- 
ous curve, from Texel in North Holland to and beyond the 
river Eider, the northern boundary of Holstein. They pro- 
ject from each side far into the wide river-mouths of the 
Ems, Jahde, Weser, Elbe, and Eider ; and wherever it is nec- 
essary to permit the passage of a river or brook, there are 
sluices so contrived as to be shut during high water by the 
action of the waves themselves. The contest between man 
and the ocean here goes on unceasingly. A spring-tide will 
sometimes overflow the dikes, and at one impulse sweep away 
what had been acquired by the labor of centuries. Thus, 
among many other instances, in 1287 the Dollart broke its 
dikes, and in 1511 the Jahde, producing terrible inundations. 
Cities and villages, thousands of plowed fields and mead- 
ows, with men and cattle, have been at such times buried in 



Chap. XII. THE FRISIANS CONTENDING WITH THE SEA. 311 

the waves. But man slowly begins again his patient con- 
flict. At every ebb of the tide the land along the coast is 
left covered with rich slime; and when this is mixed with 
the river mud deposited by the fresh-water streams, it pro- 
duces a most fertile soil. This land is gradually raised high- 
er, until it is overflowed rarely or not at all by ordinary 
tides; then vegetation appears on it, and becomes more 
abundant, until it is ready for cultivation. It is protected 
by a new dike, and thus a strip of fruitful marsh-land is ac- 
quired, called a " polder." 

§ 26. These conflicts of man with the elements are a part 
of history, as well as those fought by the sword against his 
own kind, and are surely not less attractive and noble. 
The Frisians had been engaged in such a conflict from the 
most ancient times. Charlemagne, for this reason, exempted 
them from distant military service. Thus the feudal tenure 
of land was not established among them. The peasants 
lived in free communities, in the ancient German fashion, 
with a few noble families who did not threaten their liber- 
ties. Each district, and each community in it, regulated 
its own afiairs ; justice was administered by their native 
judges according to their own laws. Friesland belonged to 
the empire ; and the authority of counts of the empire was 
conferred on the chief prelates — in the west on the Arch- 
bishop of Utrecht, and farther eastward on the Bishops of 
Miinster and Bremen. These prelates could not expect to 
raise the ofiice which they held to the princely power which 
it acquired elsewhere in the empire. Yet the Frisians, too, 
soon suffered from the encroachments of neighboring princes, 
and formed for the protection of their freedom a confederacj' 
like that of the Swiss among their mountains. Tliis was the 
league of the seven Frisian districts : West Friesland, the 
Westergau, the Ostergau, Drenthe, Groningen, Emden (or 
East Friesland), and Riistringen. 

§ 27. Farther to the east dwelt the Stedinger, on the Low- 
er Weser, and the Dithmarshers on the western coast of Hol- 
stein — peoples who had similarly preserved their freedom and 
isolation. The Stedinger were not of pure Frisian descent, 
but mixed with Saxons ; the Dithmarshers were Saxons. 
Farther north, beyond the Eider, dwelt and still dwell the 



312 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

North Frisians, with their peculiar Frisian dialect, which 
they still preserve. King Abel of Denmark undertook to 
subjugate these people. They took an oath on his approach 
that he should perish, or every Frisian should die in his free- 
dom. They defeated his army at the Eider in 1252, and the 
tyrant, who had obtained his throne by fratricide, was slain 
with an axe. A few years later. King William of Holland 
attempted to raise his power as count to that of a feudal 
prince over the Frisians; and built fortresses to bring them 
into subjection, as the Hapsburgs did in Switzerland. Fries- 
land can be approached by an army only upon the ice of win- 
ter or during the drought of summer ; a rain or thaw at 
once makes the heavy, tough soil of the moors impassable 
for men, horses, and wagons. King William made his cam- 
paign in winter, leading his army, with horses and trains, 
over the ice. But, like King Abel, he was defeated by the 
Frisians. In the fourteenth century the North Frisians were 
subjected to the Danish monarchy, after the great irruption 
of 1354 had desolated and almost depopulated their country ; 
but it was the ocean, not the Danes, that conquered them. 
The West Frisians, too, were deprived of their independence 
by a similar deluge, and became subjects of the Counts of 
Holland, but retained their personal freedom. 

§ 28, The Stedinger were overcome much sooner, after a 
heroic but mournful defense. They belonged to the juris- 
diction of the Archbishop of Bremen, who had long been 
eager to make himself master of their land, as had the Count 
of Oldenburg, and others of their neighbors. A priest was 
dissatisfied with the offering which a peasant woman gave 
him at the confessional, and in administering the sacrament 
of the supper put the coin into her mouth, instead of the 
host. The woman in her terror believed that the body of 
the Lord had turned into stone on account of her sin, but 
on reaching home, and reverently taking the penny upon 
a clean cloth, its real nature was seen, and her enraged 
husband slew the priest with an axe. The people then 
drove all the clergy from the land. Absurd accusations 
were made at Rome by Conrad of Marburg and his Dotnini- 
can monks that the people were addicted to heathenish 
magic and barbarities; the pope laid the ban and inter- 



Chap. XII. SUBJUGATION OF THE FRISIANS. 313 

diet upon theru, and a crusade against them was set on foot. 
The neighboring princes and nobles seized this opportunity 
to destroy their freedom. The Archbishop of Bremen, the 
Bishops of Miinster, Liibeck, and Ratzeburg, the Counts of 
Holland, Cleves, Oldenburg, and Lippe, marched against them, 
with an army of fanatics, commanded by the Duke of Bra- 
bant. The Stedinger then swore that they would rather die 
a double death than live to be the mockery of godless priests ; 
and nearly the whole of them perished in the bloody fight at 
Altenesch in 1234. The remnant submitted to the princes, 
most of them becoming subjects of Oldenburg. The union 
of the free peasant communities, which h-ad extended from 
Texel almost to the island of Sylt, was now interrupted. 
The people of Drenthe, who had long carried on a bloody 
struggle against the Bishops of Utrecht, soon after came to 
terms, and as an atonement for their crime built a monastery 
upon the spot where they once tortured to death a bishop, 
who had sunk and become entangled in the swamp. But 
the rest of the people of Westergau, Ostcrgau, Groningen, 
Emden, and Rtistringen still resolutely defended their land 
and their freedom. Another Count of Holland, William IV., 
a kinsman of the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria, marched against 
the Frisians, and was slain, in 1345. Lewis obtained his in- 
heritance, and under the house of Bavaria these countries 
enjoyed peace. But fierce part}' divisions broke out among 
the people. For a time they fell under the dominion of 
Holland, but they all resisted its continuance. Even when 
the county of Holland afterward fell into the hands of the 
Dukes of Burgundy, the Frisians held but a loose relation of 
dependence, nor did Charles the Bold subdue them. L^pon 
his death, Maximilian brought the counties west of the Ems 
to the house of Saxony. They struggled bravely against its 
supremacy, especially the East Frisians, but were finally sub- 
jugated by Charles v., to whom Duke George of Saxony sold 
his claims upon the land in 1515. Thus the independence of 
the Frisian confederates was lost, at the end of the Middle 
Ages, after they had defended it with a heroism comparable to 
that of the Swiss. Only East Friesland remained independ- 
ent, under the house of Cirksena, which now reached the dig- 
nity of counts of the empire. But all the Frisians retained a 



314 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

remnant of their ancient freedom in the independent self- 
government of their popular communities. 

§ 29. Tlie people of Dithmarsh defended their freedom with 
similar heroism. Their governor (count) was the Archbishop 
of Bremen; and their relation to this prelate strengthened 
them to throw off the yoke which the Kings of Denmark, be- 
ginning with Waldemar II., laid on them. But after the 
battle of Bornhoved in 1227, which was decided by their 
desertion from the Danes to the Germans, the power of Den- 
mark was broken, and Holstein and Dithmarsh were again 
free. The people now lived with all the rights of freemen, 
governing themselves in their local divisions of districts and 
parishes, and wielding their ancient Saxon weapons — their 
clubs and short-swords — right vigorously against every en- 
croachment. The nobles among them accepted the same 
laws as the peasants, and would not submit to the governors 
of the archbishop's choice unless selected from themselves. 
But here, too, conflicts arose with the neighboring princes. 
Count Gerard the Great, of Holstein, with the Duke of Meck- 
lenburg and other princes, overran their land in 1319. The 
terrified men of Dithmarsh were shut up in the church of 
Oldenworden ; the besiegers fired the building, and as the 
flames rose to the roof, and the melted lead poured down 
upon them, they begged for quarter. This was inhumanly 
refused. They then resolved that if they must die, their foes 
should die with them; and they sallied forth in desperation, 
fell upon the army of the nobles, which was already scatter- 
ing in search of plunder, and achieved a bloody victory and 
an honorable peace. Nearly a century afterward, in 1404, 
they defeated Duke Gerard of Schleswig, on his return from 
a plundering inroad into their country, on the marshy banks 
of the Hamme, whose broad mouth forms one of the few ap- 
proaches to Dithmarsh. The choice by Schleswng of King 
Christian I. of Denmark for its ruler greatly increased the 
danger of the people of Dithmarsh. The Emperor Frederick 
III., always a traitor to German freedom, assigned the fief of 
Dithmarsh in 14*74 to Christian I., as " a land without a ruler, 
that abused its freedom," He afterward recalled the grant, 
which the people never recognized, and the question was 
still in dispute when Chi'istian I. died. But his son John, 



Chap. XII. ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE DITHMARSHEES. 315 

King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, togethei- w'ith Fred- 
erick, Duke of Sclileswig-IIolstein, in 1500 undertook anew to 
subjugate the land. Tlieir own national army was strength- 
ened by " tlie black guard," a band of wandering mercenaries, 
distinguished for their cruelty as well as their military skill. 
Many noblemen joined the over-confident army of invasion, 
which advanced through the heavy frosts in great splendor 
of arms and equipment, as if to a field of sport with the peas- 
ants. They captured Meldorf, the most important town in 
the land, butchered the unarmed population, and set out 
thence for Heide by way of Hemmingstedt, February 17, 
1500, the guard in advance, with the cry, "Look out, peas- 
ants, the guard is coming !" Meanwhile there was a thaw, 
and the roads were softened. The Dithmarsh men built be- 
fore Hemmingstedt, from ditch to ditch, across the narrow 
causeway which formed the only practicable passage through 
the swamp, a barricade, and placed three hundred brave men 
behind it, under Wolf Jostrand. The slow, heavy train of 
wagons and horsemen paused before this obstacle. The Dith- 
marshers fired their guiis into the close throng; and then 
broke forth, burdened with no armor, and easily leaping with 
their long staves over the ditches. As the Danes found 
themselves inextricably fixed in the deep soil, a panic seized 
them, like that of Gi'anson, and the battle became a massacre 
by the Frisians of their hated oppressors. Women and maid- 
ens joined in the fight, and fired upon the Danes. " Look 
out, guards, the peasant is coming," was now the cry. The 
men of Meldorf opened the sluices ; the tide, raised by the 
northwest wind, covered the roads, and the enemy were ut- 
terly destroyed. King John and Duke Frederick only es- 
caped by rapid flight. The flower of the nobility of Den- 
mark and Schleswig-Holstein lay among the dead, and the 
booty was enormous. Twenty thousand of the Danish army, 
two thirds of the whole, are believed to have been slain, 
though the assailants lost but sixty men. We may add that 
the freedom thus successfully defended was i-etained by the 
Dithmarshers until 1559, when, distracted by parties and 
abandoned by the empire, they submitted to Holstein, and 
through it to Denmark ; though only after a brave defense, 
and upon conditions worthy of free and valiant men. 



316 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

GENEALOGY OF THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 

Rudolph of Hapsburg, d. 1291. 

I 



I I 

Albert I. , d. 1308. Rudolph, father of John the Parricide. 

I 

I I I I i 

Rudolph, d. 1307, Frederick the Fair, Leopold. Albert the Wise, Otto. 

Kiug of Bohemia. d. 1330. d. 1358. 

i '. i \ I 

Margaret, m. Rudolph the Founder Albert III. Leopold, d. 1386 
Meinha'rd of Tyrol, acquires Tyrol, 1463. (Austrian line), (acquires Trieste, 

I Styrian line). 

I I 

I III I 

Albert IV. William. Leopold. Ernest. Frederick " of the 

Jlmpty Pocket," d. 1439. 
I 



rt{r.)II., 



Albert (V.) IT., Frederick TIL, Em-per or, Albert VI. Sigismund, 

Emperor, d. 1439. d. 1493. d. 1496. 

Ladislaus Posthumus. llaxirnilian I., d. 1519, m. Mary of Burgundy. 

\ 

I I 

Philip, m. Joanna of Spain. Margaret. 



Charles F., d. 15.58. Ferdinand L, d. 1564, Mary, m. Louis of Hungary, 
I m. Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. d. 1526. 

I 

I III 

Philip XL, Maximilian II., Ferdinand Charles 

d. 1.598. d. 1576. (Tyrol). (Styria). 

Philip TIL, Rudolph 11, Ilalthias, Ferdinand II., 

d. 1621. d. 1612. d. 1619. d. 1637. 

Philip IV., d. 1665. Ferdinand III, d. 1657. 



Ill I 

Maria Theresa, Charles II., Margaret Theresa. ieopoM 7., Emperor, 
m. Louis XIV. d. 1700. I d. 1705. 

I I ^ r=^l 

Louis, Maria Antoinette, d. 1693, Joseph I., Charles YI, 

the Dauphin. m. Max Emanuel of Bavaria, d. 1711. d. 1740. 

Louis. Philip V. of Anjou, Joseph Ferdinand, Maria Theresa, d. 1780, Em- 
King of Spain, d. 1699. press of Austria, 

d. 1746. m. Francis I. of Lorraine (d. 1765). 



Joseph 11, A. 1790. leopold II, d. 1793. 

Francis I. of Austria 

(II. of Germany until 1806), 

d. 1835. 

I 

Ferdinand I. of Austria, abdicated 1848. Francis Charles, Archduke. 

Francis Joseph I., born Aug. 18, 1830, 
Emperor of Austria, Dec. 2, 1848. 

Note.— The names in italics are those of Emperors of Germany. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

GERMAN CIVILIZATION IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH 
CENTURIES. THE CITIES AND THEIR LEAGUES. 

§ 1. Social Changes during this Period. § 2. Meagreness of its Records. 
§ 3. Rapid Growth of the Cities ; their Advantages ; their Liberties. § 4. 
Internal Struggles for Power. § '>. A German City of the Fifteenth Cent- 
ury. § (). Its Industries, Guilds, and Festivals. § 7. The Cities De- 
scribed by ^neas Sylvius. § 8. City Minstrelsy. § 9. Hanse Leagues ; 
"the German Ilanse."' § 10. Its Constitution and Success. § 11. Its 
Wars with Denmark. § 12. Its Commerce. § 13. Its Want of Organiza- 
tion, and Decline. § 14. League of the Rhenish Cities. § 1"). League of 
the Cities of Suabia. § 16. The Great City War in South Germany. 
§ 1 7. Decline of the Cities. 

§ 1. German history in the fourteentli and fifteenth centu- 
ries is not splendid in conquest or in national achievement; 
yet the life and character of the people during this period 
are an interesting and important study. It was a time of 
transition from the dark ages to the ever freer and fuller life 
of the modern nations. The characteristics of the German 
tribes in the days of Tacitus, indeed, may be traced in their 
descendants to-day ; and there is no other European race 
which has preserved to the same extent and for so long a 
time its individual peculiarities. But the age in question 
was that during which the modei'ii nations of Europe drew 
between them the great lines of separation that have sub- 
stantially divided them to this day, not only as distinct 
kingdoms or commonwealths, but as peoples, each of them 
with a well-marked national character of its own. The con- 
ception of the empire as the supreme power in Christendom 
passed away in Fi-ance, Spain, and Italy long before it was 
abandoned in Germany ; but in such countries as England, 
France, and even Spain, the reigning sovereigns steadily 
built up their thrones, and became nearly absolute, while 
the German kings had lost all but the name of monarchy 
before they gave up the dream of sovei^eignty over the 
world. Thus Germany became a name for an aggregate 



318 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

of independent principalities ; but while it lost its command- 
ing position as a nation, it found some compensation in the 
abundant variety thus obtained for individual life, and in 
the fullness, fi-eedom, and richness of the culture secured to 
the people. Other nations, with their policy and arms, filled 
the world with noise, and the annals of the times are devoted 
to their exploits ; but Germany quietly invented and worked 
the printing-press, and prepared for the Reformation. 

§ 2. Thus whatever is most noteworthy in German annals, 
from the time of the Hohenstaufens until the circulation of 
printed books began to extend religious knowledge and 
thought, is the work of the people, and not of their rulei's. 
But it is the brilliant deeds of the warrior and the statesman 
which inspire the chronicler, and fill even popular legend and 
song. The great achievements of the multitude are always 
wrought without consciousness of their greatness ; and be- 
fore the results are appreciated the processes are often for- 
gotten. Hence our materials for a narrative of the wars and 
jjrojects of Charles the Great or of Barbarossa are far more 
abundant than for an account of the progressive steps by 
which the art of printing was perfected or field-artillery 
made effective ; or of the growth of commerce, or of political 
and social institutions in the free cities. In German histor)'', 
the two centuries preceding Luther are the poorest of all in 
great and prominent men, and even in memorable incidents ; 
and the narrative of public affairs during this period is mea- 
gre if not unattractive. But the silent changes which were 
taking place in the thoughts, habits, and lives of the people 
are the key to all their subsequent history ; and even the 
very imperfect knowledge of them which remains to us will 
repay a careful study. 

§ 3. The rapid decline of knighthood and of the dignity and 
character of the nobility, in the latter half of the thirteenth 
century, were accompanied and followed by an equally rapid 
growth in the wealth and importance of the cities and of the 
trading classes. The age of romance, of poetry, and popular 
devotion to heroism was gone; that of calculating industry 
and laborious acquisition came on apace. For two centuries 
no great poem was produced, no important historical work 
written, no legendary hero enthroned in the people's hearts. 



Chap. XIII. ORGANIZATION OF THE CITY COMMUNITIES. .319 

The illusions of earlier clays passed away ; hard common- 
sense was accepted as the rule of life. The popular sports 
gradually changed; the knightly games and tournaments 
gave place to burlesque plays and the feats of clowns and 
jugglers, heroic songs to rhymed jest and folly. Active 
minds and skilled hands thronged to the cities ; and since no 
national government protected them, they formed associa- 
tions, guilds, and leagues of every kind to protect themselves. 
Thus, while the character of the nobility and the knights de- 
generated sadly, as the knightly spirit declined, the German 
cities acquired not only wealth and strength, but independ- 
ence, and something of a democratic spirit of association and 
love for liberty. The lords of the land originally had juris- 
diction over the cities in their territory, and the emperor in 
the cities of the empire, and exercised it through the agency 
of burgraves and bailiffs. But their rights were gradually 
ceded back to the cities themselves, often by needy lords in 
exchange for money, sometimes for other considerations, but 
almost always peacefully; so that nearly all the cities be- 
came free communities. They formed, in fact, small repub- 
lics, wdth their own government and magistrates. Their gov- 
ernments were still aristocratic — that is, they were in the 
hands of a few prominent families (called Patricians, or 
Honorables), whose members alone were eligible to office as 
judges and members of the council. But the wealthier in- 
habitants — merchants, proprietors of land, and manufactur- 
ers — gradually became associated with them. These were 
the men of the world, whose minds were trained by active 
intercourse with others. They could speak otlier languages 
than their own, and were accustomed to control themselves 
and to influence others in trade. They also acquired wealth, 
and their money was indispensable to the cities and to the 
noblemen, who intermarried with them freely for its sake. 
For in those daj's money was a greater power than now ; it 
could buy knighthood and titles of nobility, or even of sover- 
eignty, from the State, and dispensations for crime from the 
Church. Such men could not long be kept down ; they soon 
obtained an equal share in the government, and formed with 
the old ruling families the council, in distinction from the 
burgesses, who were of lower rank. The prosperity and 



320 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book UI. 

power of the cities began under this aristocratic constitution. 
As trade extended, they secured and increased their wealth 
by an economical administration of affairs, and thus obtained 
more and more influence over the princes and noblemen of the 
land. They began also to extend their boundaries beyond 
their walls, to take neighboring villages and districts under 
their control, and to protect these dependencies from feuds 
and plunder. The practice of establishing suburbs, whose 
residents (Pfahlbiirger, " Palisade-citizens," who dwelt within 
inclosures, but not within the walls) claimed the rights and 
privileges of citizens, threatened to build up in the cities a 
sovereignty too powei'ful for the knights and princes of the 
land, who therefore looked with jealousy, and often with 
bitter enmity, upon their growth. But they w ere strong in 
themselves and in their union, and steadily gained in inde- 
pendence at the expense of the princes and nobility. 

§ 4. As early as in the thirteenth century there began in 
nearly all the cities struggles over the form of their internal 
government. The common citizens — that is, the settled arti- 
sans, who were divided into guilds according to their sevei-al 
trades — being in good circumstances and conscious of their 
own strength, began to demand a share in the city govern- 
ment. The pride or severity of the ruling families often op- 
pressed and offended them. Most of the cities have records 
of bloody riots and battles from this cause. But these agita- 
tions ended almost every where in the guilds obtaining a 
place and voice in the councils and in the executive adminis- 
tration. In some places, as in Spires, Ztirich, and Augsburg, 
there was simply a division of power between "the dynas- 
ties " and the commons, so that the latter were not only rep- 
resented in the smaller ruling council or senate of the city, 
but often held another and larger council of their own. At 
other places, as Regensburg, the dynasties were actually ex- 
pelled, or only suffered to remain on condition of joining the 
guilds. In but a few cities, as in Nuremberg, did they re- 
tain their control. Thus each city formed a political organi- 
zation adapted to its own inhabitants, and the municipal con- 
stitutions and customs grew up with that rich variety of de- 
velopment which has ever since been characteristic of them. 

§ 5. After much unfruitful struggling and passionate agi- 



Chap. XIII. A CITY OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 321 

tation, there comes in with the fifteenth century a period of 
repose in the German cities generally, of splendid prosperity 
and enjoyment, during which municipal life was one of great 
comfort. Trade and wealth took refuge behind their strong- 
walls ; for the cities continued to be the centres of commerce, 
which grew rapidly in spite of the wildness of the times, and 
was greatly promoted by the annual fairs. Armed mercena- 
ries were employed to protect traveling merchants and to 
punish breaches of the peace ; while the citizens themselves, 
in all classes, were accustomed to arms and ready for battle. 
The cities often acquired possession even of remote castles, 
to protect their highways ; their own precincts, even when 
they extended for miles around, were inclosed with a wall 
and ditch, and the entrances to the inclosure were protected 
by guards and towers. The city itself was surrounded by a 
deep ditcji, which was often double, with stone walls, turreted 
and battlemented, behind it, taking the place of the more 
ancient palisade forts. The space within was limited ; but 
the open places were adorned by public buildings, churches, 
and, above all, magnificent town-halls (Rathhiiuser). These 
Gothic edifices, with their leafy mouldings, galleries, and 
columned passages, still form the ornament of many cities, 
such as Aix, Nuremberg, Brunswick, Liibeck, and Cologne. 
Numbers of churches, convents, and chapels were built by 
the city, or by its ecclesiastical corporations, whose endow- 
ments of land often made them very rich. Latin schools 
were soon connected with them, and their teachers, always 
priests, became men of importance in the cities, whither mul- 
titudes of poor students flocked to receive instruction, sup- 
porting themselves by begging. The custom of paving the 
streets was introduced in the fourteenth century, though 
many large cities did not practice it till later. Fresh streams 
of running water were in many places brought into the streets. 
The houses commonly presented the gable to the narrow and 
winding street, and had courts which extended far back, in 
which the cattle were kept at night. The houses were at 
first built with plain panel-work, and Avere mostly thatched 
with straw. They were then but simply furnished ; but show 
and ornament steadily increased. They rose high, with tow- 
ering roofs, pierced with sashes and openings ; for the main 



322 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

floors were usually occupied as stores. The upper stories 
projected a little over the massive ground-floor; pretty bow- 
windows Avere thrown forward still further. The beams were 
adorned with pious mottoes and carvings, the corners and 
niches with wooden figures, and the main door with the fam- 
ily arms. Such a house, as seen from the street, presented a 
somewhat gloomy appearance, but also one that was singular- 
ly pleasing to the artistic eye. An extensive hall, surround- 
ed by staircases and galleries, was entered by the front door. 
It was employed in business houses, like the court-yard sur- 
rounded by the back-buildings, for bargaining and selling- 
goods, while the residence lay in the rear, or in the upper 
stories. Thus the accommodations of the family were narrow, 
but neat and comfortable. The terrors of city life were felt, 
when fire spread desolation through the labyrinths of narrow 
streets, or when a pestilence brooded in the thick, close air. 

§ 6. These communities were the homes of all branches of 
manufacturing and artistic industry. Here were goldsmiths, 
armor-makers, painters, and sculptors, who brought renown 
to their native cities. Here were industrious scholars, who 
were now often laymen, though formerly always priests, who 
investigated and chronicled the history of their city and their 
times. The ruling families, the city nobility, proud of trade 
and wealth, held their grand festivals and dances, and their 
election banquets, in which the representatives of the guilds 
afterward shared. But the laboring artisans, with their 
guilds and corporate monopolies, had also their pride and 
pleasures. Each had its own banners, emblems, and peculiar 
customs; nor did they lack banquets and festivals, with 
formal sessions and uniform attire. Each member of the 
guild, supported and protected by it, found his own impor- 
tance only in it ; and his service belonged to it, and through 
it to the community of the city at large. Thus selfish aims 
often yielded to the common good, and personal gain was 
sacrificed to the benefit of all. While each guild watched 
over its own interests, by preventing, for instance, the set- 
tlement of too many master-workmen, it was also careful for 
the valiant and honorable conduct of its members. The 
Church festivals were enjoyed by the whole people, especially 
those of the city's own guardian saint, who was honored by 



Chap. XIII. LIFE IN THE CITIES. 323 

solemn and splendid processions. But each feast brought its 
own pleasure : Easter, its palms and its mirth ; Whitsuntide, 
the green boughs; and the spring, the May-days, when a 
handsome youth, crowned with green leaves, came from the 
forest into the city, a symbol of victory over the winter. 
This festival afterward grew into the shooting -matches, at 
which the citizens practiced with their destructive crossbows. 
Corpus Christi brought its processions, Christmas the bright- 
ly illuminated streets, Shrovetide its carnival of fun. The 
people in those times were full of unwearying merriment ; 
minstrels and dancers, jugglers and players, were welcome 
guests. The women, too, had their own festivals ; as when, 
on the eve of St. John's day, the wives and maidens of Co- 
logne trooped to the Rhine to throw in flowers, and take out 
water which was regarded as holy ; or as when the Brunswick 
ladies devoted a special day to gathering herbs in the forest 
for sacred uses. The council often had to interfere with the 
love of show and extravagance, and to provide by severe 
decrees for the public order and peace. This was the more 
necessary, since in the cities, as well as elsewhere, the defiant 
nobles were inclined to arbitrary conduct and violence ; and 
their rudeness Avas not restrained by resjsect from disturbing 
the most beautiful custom. 

§ 7. ^neas Sylvius, a sensible and elegant Italian writer, 
who was once secretary of the council of Basle, afterward 
chancellor of the Emperor Frederick III,, then cardinal, and 
finally pope (Pius II.), gives a eulogistic description of the 
German cities about the middle of the fifteenth century. The 
following are some of the striking features of the picture he 
draws : " In Aix, the ancient capital of the empire, there is 
a palace with stone figures of the emperors, and a temple rich 
in relics. Cologne is not excelled in Europe for the splendor of 
its churches and citizens' houses, its wealth, and its defensive 
strength. Old Mayence is handsomely built, and its only fault 
is the narrowness of its streets. Worms, though smaller, is the 
most charming of cities. The cathedral of Spires was burned 
down, but now rises again more magnificent than ever, and 
holds the tombs of the emperors. Strasburg is traversed, like 
Venice, with canals, but is pleasanter and more healthy. It 
has a cathedral of freestone, with one finished spire, which 



324 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

hides its wonderful top in the clouds. Its city hall, and even 
its private houses, are such as no prince need be ashamed of. 
The honorable character of Basle and its respect for law are 
praised by the whole world Berne and Zurich are also cities 
of wealth and military strength. Augsburg is beautiful, rich, 
and well-governed. Salzburg is magnificent ; Regensburg is 
rich in sanctuaries and pious memories. But Vienna is the 
most splendid of all ; the embassadors of Bosnia declared that 
the spire of St. Stephen's alone was worth more than their 
kingdom. The houses are of stone, with large cellars ; the 
windows are of glass (then a rare luxury) ; the people at 
home have ricli furniture, and keep singing-birds. But their 
manners are willful and violent. Breslau stands in a country 
that was formerly Sclavonic, and is built of bricks, but is 
powerful, and its episcopal see is rich. Dantzic in Prussia is 
strong by land and sea, and can perhaps send out fifty thou- 
sand warriors. Prague is half German, and resembles Flor- 
ence in splendor. But Liibeck excels all the northern cities 
in lofty buildings and handsome churches. Its influence is 
so commanding that three mighty kingdoms of thti North 
accept or reject their rulers at its will." He also praises the 
cities of Mecklenburg, Lower Saxony, and Flanders. " In 
Thuringia and upon the Main, Frankfort is worthy of note. 
In Franconia are the episcopal sees of Bamberg, Aschaffen- 
burg, and Wurzburg ; but Nuremberg towers above all. To 
the traveler coming from Lower Franconia this splendid city 
shows from afar its majestic beauty ; and the impression is 
strengthened on entering the gate, and beholding its hand- 
some streets and neat houses. Here are the venerable and 
beautiful churches of St. Sebald and St. Lawrence ; the proud 
and strong castle of the emperors, and citizens' houses that 
seem built for princes ; so that in Scotland the kings would 
wish to be housed like citizens of the middle class in Nurem- 
berg. In Suabia, Ulm is supreme in municipal beauty. 
Bavaria, too, contains pleasant cities. On the whole, it may 
be asserted that no nation in Europe possesses cleaner and 
more agreeable cities than Germany; and their appearance 
is as fresh as if they were built but yesterday. They accu- 
mulate wealth by trade ; at every feast silver vessels are 
used for drink; and every citizen's wife wears ornaments of 



Chap. XIII. THE MASTER-SINGERS. 325 

gold. The citizens, too, are soldiers, and each of them has a 
sort of armory in liis house. The boys learn to ride before they 
can talk, and sit unmoved in the saddle when their horses 
run at full speed; while the men wear their armor as lightly 
as their limbs. One who has seen the armories of the Germans 
will smile at the stores of armor in other nations. Surely you 
Germans might still be the lords of the world, as you once 
were, but for your many masters — the fault all wise men have 
found with you." Thus, in spite of the ruined empire, stran- 
gers found the municipal life of the Germans worthy of respect. 

§ 8. Now that life at the courts was degenerate, and knight- 
hood sunk almost to barbarism, intellectual activity took ref- 
uge in the cities. The free knightly minstrelsy of the min- 
nesingers was silent; and in their place came the didactic, 
moral, and satiric poets, mostly clergymen and scholars, 
whose most famous works are "The Welsh (romance) Guest" 
(1216), " The Racer" (1 300), and Sebastian Brandt's " Ship of 
Fools" (1494). But it was not long before the artisans ac- 
quired the noble art of song, though they limited it, as they 
did their trades, by rigid rules, and in accordance with the 
aims of their guilds. Thus arose the artisan minstrels (meis- 
tersiinger), who practiced the art of composing and singing 
verses in the cities as a trade. They were without the simple, 
impulsive tenderness of the early minnesingers ; but their 
songs express the pious and merry disposition of the strong 
artisans. In some cities they held sessions in the city hall 
itself, or in the church. They flourished most in Southern 
Germany, first of all in Mayence, where the formal, poetic 
" praise of women " marks the transition fi'om the trouba- 
dour to the city minstrel ; and afterward in Strasburg, Ulm, 
and above all in Nuremberg, the home of art. Hans Nunnen- 
beck, the weaver, Michael Behaim, and others, are well known; 
but the most famous of all is Hans Sachs, the Nuremberg 
shoemaker, though he properly belongs to the next period, and 
can not be reckoned as strictly one of the guild of "master- 
singers." But this form of minstrelsy lasted through the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and was maintained in 
Ulm to the year 1839. 

§ 9. Very early in the Middle Ages, merchants, whose trade 
led them to remote cities and foreign countries, formed asso- 



326 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

ciations to assure to one another aid and protection. Such 
an association was called by an old name, preserved in the 
Low-German dialect, a Hanse. The first of these companies, 
of which any thing is known, was formed of merchants who 
dwelt in the island of Gothland, or frequented it. This isl- 
and had an active trade with the sea-coast, especially with 
Riga and Novogorod, and through these towns with the in- 
terior of Russia. The merchants of Cologne and of Lower 
Germany in the English trade had a similar Hanse league ; 
and smaller ones were formed in the Netherlands and else- 
where. But far beyond all these in importance was a league 
of cities in Lower Germany, headed by Ltibeck, which became 
known in the fourteenth century as the German Hanse. It 
grew out of a combination of the so-called Wend cities of 
Liibeck, Rostock, Wismar, and Stralsund, with the ancient 
league of Gothland merchants, and became so influential that 
the other associations of the same kind were compelled, for 
their own advantage, to join it. We can fix no precise date 
for its foundation. The event usually assumed as its origin, 
the convention of 1241 between Liibeck and Hamburg for 
the reciprocal protection of their trade, was but one of many 
important acts of the same kind. The cities of the Hanse 
were at first classed in three " thirds:" 1. The Wend cities, 
with Ltibeck, including Liibeck, Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund, 
Greifswald, Stettin, and others ; and wdth these were asso- 
ciated the interior cities of Brandenburg, Berlin, Frankfort- 
on-the-Oder, Tangerraiinde, and even Breslau. 2. The West- 
phalian and Prussian " third :" Cologne, Soest, Dortmund, 
Miinster, and Minden, with the cities of Holland and Zealand, 
including Amsterdam on one hand, and those of Prussia, such 
as Thorn, Elbing, Dantzic, Kulm, Konigsberg, and Brauns- 
berg, on the other. 3. The Gothland " third," embracing the 
Germans of Gothland, those in Riga, Dorpat, Reval, and other 
cities of Livonia and Esthonia. Hamburg and Bremen at fii'st 
assumed peculiar relations to the league, but Hamburg after- 
ward joined the Wend third, while Bremen united Avitli 
Brunswick, Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Goslar, Hanover, Got- 
tingen, Hildesheim, Halle, Nordhausen, Mtihlhausen, and Er- 
furt, to form a new Saxon division, and each division of the 
enlarged Hansa was then called a " fourth." 



Chap. XIII. POWER OF THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE. 3 27 

§ 10. Ltibeck continued to be the most important of these 
cities, and the capital of the Hansa. Here its Diet was held, 
at regular intervals, or upon a special summons to meet an 
emergency. The larger cities were directly represented at 
these sessions, while the smaller ones connected themselves 
with these, and were represented through them. Thus, Ros- 
tock spoke for nearly all the cities of Bi-andenburg. Thus 
each of them shared the protection and the common rights 
of all. It was the purpose of the league to present a united 
front to foreigners, and to obtain from them all the advan- 
tages possible in trade ; also to guard the highways from 
robbery, to open new avenues of traffic, by land and water, 
to establish common regulations for coinage, weights, and 
measures, for the disposition of stranded goods, for the de- 
tention of staples in particular markets, and for the settle- 
ment of all disputes ; and, finally, to maintain civil order, and 
uphold the aristocratic city governments. A common fund 
was provided by fixed contributions; whiles in case of war, 
each city was called on for a contingent of men and ships, 
both merchant vessels and ships of war. Thus the Hanse 
soon became the greatest power in the northern seas. It 
actually brought to pass what Henry the Lion had striven 
for, the supremacy of the Germans over all Northern Europe; 
and that by its own resources, without aid from the empire, 
to which it paid little regard. Its success was gained main- 
ly by the use of money among the needy princes ; by the wis- 
dom of its negotiations ; and, in cases of greater difficulty, by 
the prohibition and suppression of trade with foreign powers, 
and the exclusion of unmanageable members from the league ; 
nor did it hesitate, when it was necessary, to declare war 
against kings. 

§ 11. The Kings of Denmark, the most powerful monarchs 
in the Scandinavian North, strove in vain to destroy the as- 
cendency of the Hanse. Indeed, they were frequently driven 
to invoke its aid against disorders in their own land, and for 
the maintenance of their own throne; and in return they 
could only grant new privileges to trade. In 1361 Wal- 
demar HI. (Atterdag) conquered Gothland, and destroyed 
Wisby, with thirteen hundred German citizens, and vast 
amounts of property. The Wend cities, with Liibeck at 



328 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

their liead, determined on revenge. The Kings of Sweden and 
Norway were forced by their people, who were dependent on 
the Hanse for supplies, to take its part. John Wittenberg, 
the Burgomaster of Lilbeck, besieged Copenhagen, where 
Waldemar's son was slain, and threatened Helsingborg. But 
meanwhile the Danes, who were now strengthened by the 
desertion of the Swedes to them, defeated and destroyed the 
fleet of Wittenberg, who atoned for his neglect by the loss 
of his head. The whole German Hanse then bestirred itself, 
in spite of emperor and pope, whom the Danes had won over, 
and at a Diet of the league in Cologne resolved to prosecute 
the war. From Zealand to Livonia, from Briel and Amster- 
"dam to Riga and Dorpat, and even to Breslau and Cracow, 
the cities mustered their forces against the Scandinavian 
North. The greatest fleet Germany had ever seen was col- 
lected; it frightened Norway to a peace, set up in Sweden 
Albert of Mecklenburg as king, and captured and sacked 
Copenhagen. Waldemar in terror fled with his treasures 
from his kingdom; and in 1370 the Danish States -General 
made a peace with the Hanse which secured it for a long- 
time an ascendency over the Scandinavian kingdoms. 

§ 12. The Hanse was now in complete control of the com- 
merce of the North. In Norway they occupied an entire 
quarter of the city of Bergen, in which the German merchants, 
always bachelors, lived in luxury and pride, with their strange 
manners and rough games. They imported grain, beer, linen, 
woolen cloths, and tlie precious goods of the South, and ex- 
ported in exchange skins, salted meats and fish, and ship 
timber. The herring fisheries on the coast of Schonen were 
prosecuted by them almost exclusively, and furnished half of 
Europe with the fish so necessary during the frequent fasts. 
They also exported from Sweden metals and the other prod- 
ucts of the North. The powerful city of Novogorod was the 
staple market of Russia, in which leather, honey, and wax 
were obtained for cloths from the Netherlands. In London 
the Hanse merchants had their own quarters, the Steelyard, 
where they purchased chiefly wool, but in later times, when 
the English manufactures became important, fine cloths. 
The limits of the Hanse commerce in the Southwest were in 
the Netherlands, through which trade was carried on wifh 



THAr. XIII. OTHER LEAGUES OF GERMAN CITIES. 329 

the Soutl], with France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy; so that 
these countries were rarely visited by the Hanse merchants 
themselves. 

§ 13. Thus the prosperity and power of the Hanse during 
the decline of the empire, in the fourteenth and fifteenth cent- 
uries, showed that German energy and enterprise were still 
in full life. But the league itself suffered more and more 
from the defects incident to its imperfect organization : a 
want of harmony, selfish greed in individual members, and 
the sad want of a national government to wield and direct 
its great powers. The ti-ade of the Netherlands first rivaled 
that of the Hanse, and then that of England gradually over- 
shadowed it, and established connections in Prussia, Poland, 
and Russia. At the end of the fifteenth century the German 
Hanse was already beginning to decline. 

§ 14. Besides this great league, which controlled the com- 
merce of all North Germany, several other confederacies of 
cities grew up in the emijire. Such leagues were tempora- 
rily formed i^ Lower Saxony and in Westphalia, though they 
never attained historical importance. But the Rhenish cities 
formed one of great influence, almost as ancient as the Hanse. 
In 1254 Mayence and Worms combined, under the noble 
Arnold Walpot, to resist unjust tolls levied on the Rhine. 
This league was sanctioned by King William of Holland, 
during the great interregnum. It soon came to include Basle, 
Strasburg, Worms, Spires, Mayence, and Frankfort ; and a 
number of cities of the second rank as far down as Wesel : 
both those on the Rhine, as Freiburg, Breisach, Bingen, Ober- 
wesel, Boppard, Bonn, and Neuss, and some interior towns, 
such as Oppenheira and Fulda; and was temporarily joined 
by more distant cities, among them Regensburg, Nuremberg, 
Colmar, Metz, and Treves. In the time of its power it com- 
pelled even the neighboring princes, the Archbishops of May- 
ence, Cologne, and Treves, the Dukes of Bavaria, the Counts 
Palatine, and many more, to join it and observe the peace it 
.proclaimed. But the bond of the league was a loose one, 
its members were too much scattered, and it had only mer- 
cenary soldiers, so that it rapidly fell to pieces, and did not 
survive the fourteenth century. Its remnants joined the 
more memorable leacrue of the Suabian cities. 



330 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

§ 15; The cities of South Germany felt their passion for 
independence kindled by the example of Switzerland, where 
the citizens and peasants humbled the pride of their princes. 
From the time when Lewis of Bavaria so successfully sus- 
tained the cities in the Diet at Frankfort in 1338, the clear- 
est minds among the city leaders entertained the hope that 
they might bring about a restoration of the empire to real 
power, and maintain it under a sort of imperial constitution 
which would make a legislative council of the representatives 
of the cities. But the next emperor, Charles IV., was not 
the man to carry out such a scheme. As soon as he became 
sovereign, he began to mortgage cities of the empire to prel- 
ates and princes. In appointing Everard of Wirtemberg 
imperial governor of Suabia, he granted him a sort of claim 
upon the cities in that province. The Golden Bull was also 
unwelcome to the cities, since it denied the rights of citizen- 
ship to the " Pfahlbtirger," or suburban residents, and forbade 
leagues of the cities. But when Charles IV., in his effort to 
secure the throne to his son "Wenzel in 1377, again mortgaged 
cities to electors and princes, and granted authority over 
them to the hated Everard, seventeen cities in Suabia united 
for the maintenance of their freedom by war. At Reutlin- 
gen they obtained a victory over Everard's son Ulric, who 
•escaped with difficulty, though less hurt by the wounds the 
citizens gave him than by the scorn and mockery with which 
his father treated him after the defeat. 

§ 16. Wenzel now recognized the league of the cities, and 
made a preliminary peace. He even seemed at first ready to 
defend them. But his plan was, in fact, but to incite the 
princes and the cities each against the other, that he might 
control them both. To complete the confusion, the nobles 
also, who were striving for greater independence, leagued 
themselves together, as enemies alike of the princes and the 
cities. Thus arose in Suabia the league of the "Martinsvo- 
gel," and afterward that of the " Schwegler." Wenzel now 
gave the office of governor in Suabia to Leopold III. of Aus- 
tria, whose aim was to restore the lost ascendency of his house 
in Switzerland, Alsace, and Suabia. The cities of Switzer- 
land, finding their freedom in danger, sought the friendship 
of those of the Suabian league, now increased in number to 



Chap. XIII. DECLINE OF THE CITY LEAGUES. 331 

tliirty-seven. But Leopold was cunning enough to stir up 
strife and division between them. He then marched against 
the Swiss alone, but was defeated and slain at Sempach in 
1386. The victory of the Swiss greatly encouraged the 
Suabians against the neighboring princes, who had all con- 
spired to destroy their growing power. It was then that the 
Wittelsbach lords treacherously captured Piligrin, Archbish- 
op of Salzburg, the ally of the cities. Thus was kindled the 
great war of the cities in 1388. All South Germany was 
filled with feuds, murders, pillage, and desolation. In Bava- 
ria and Franconia the citizens retained the upper hand. At 
Doffingen, in Suabia, Everard "the Grinner" and his son 
Ulric met in battle the citizens, who occupied the church- 
yard of the place and fought bravely. Ulric, who burned to 
wipe out the disgrace at Reutlingen, also fought with vigor. 
He fell, aifd his forces wavered ; but old Everard took the 
command of them at once, crying out, " The fallen is but as 
another man." In the hottest of the fight, " the shamming 
wolf" of Wunnenstein, the captain of the Martin svogel, fell 
upon the citizen army ; for on that day princes and knights, 
themselves at bitter enmity, made common cause against the 
still more hated cities. Thus the citizens were utterly de- 
feated, and the league came to a premature end. The similar 
league of Frankfort and the cities of the Wetterau was also dis- 
solved. The mercenaries of the Rhenish cities, now a disrep- 
utable and dissolute molj, were scattered by the sword of the 
Emperor Rupert of the Palatinate, who at one time burned 
sixty of them in a lime-kiln. At the Diet of Eger, in 1389, 
Wenzel, disregarding his promises, formally forbade the cities 
to unite in a confederation for any purpose. ■ 

§ 17. Thus the city associations of South Germany came 
to an end, sooner and with less glory than the Hanse. Yet 
the individual cities in that region continued for a long time 
to be ornaments of the nation. Sixty years after this they 
were still able to carry on a second great city war against 
the most warlike prince of his day, Albert Achilles, and came 
out of it with honor in 1449. But these imperfect unions 
only illustrated the evils of a loosely compacted confederacy. 
One hampered another, and each embarrassed all, by their 
levies of tolls and transit claims on merchandise, which they 



332 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

all eagerly insisted on for themselves, and refused to surren- 
der for tlie common good. Most of them gradually declined ; 
some of them chose to accept a dependent relation to princes, 
in preference to their costly and insecure freedom under the 
empire. Thus, at the close of the Middle Ages, the flourish- 
ing period of most of the South German cities was at an end. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

GERMAN CIVILIZATION CONTINUED : LIFE OF THE PEOPLE, 
PLAGUE AND PERSECUTION, SCIENCE AND ART. 

§ 1. Decay of Manners. § 2. The Peasantry Oppressed. § 3. Life of the 
Nobles ; Robber Knights. § 4. Confederacies of the Knights. § 5. The 
German Order ; its Prussian Possessions. § 6. It is Defeated by Ladishiw 
Jagello. § 7. Encroachments of Poland. § 8. The Land becomes a 
Duchy. § 9. Military Life. § 10. Vagabonds. § 11. Popular Songs. 
§ 12. Dress and Fashion; Food and Drink. § 13. The Clergy. § 14. 
The Black Death ; its Eti'ect on the Character of the People. § 15. Cruel 
Persecution of the Jews. § IG. Fanatical Sects; the Flagellants. § 17. 
Secret Tribunals of Justice. § 18. Corruptions of Doctrine and Worship. 
§ 19. Progress of Religious Truth. § 20. Theology and Natural Science. 
§ 21. Invention of the Art of Printing. § 22. Its Immediate Results. 
§ 23. Early Use of Gunpowder. § 24. Its Influence upon the Art of War. 

§ 1, The decline of the knightly spirit, and the return of 
rough, wild manners, brought with them the decline of the 
knightly minstrelsy. Even from the court of the emperor, 
and as early as Rudolph's time, the minstrels were dismissed 
without honor or reward. Tlie grand associating idea of 
knighthood, as an order bound to guard the honor of their 
common faith and life with the sword against every assail- 
ant, was lost. The nobleman came soon to look little farther 
than the narrow bounds of his own possessions, often scarcely 
beyond those of his own village or castle. Every thing grew 
ruder again. The armor in use became ruder ; in place of the 
mail made of rings and chains, heavy plate armor was used, 
which almost weighed down horse and man, and became at 
last a hinderance rather than a protection in battle. Instead 
of the beautiful attire of the thirteenth century, a perverted 
taste delighted in gay contrasts of color and eccentricities of 
cut. More than all, manners grew ruder; the exaggerated 
and often affected devotion to the ladies gave place to arro- 
gant contempt for them. The men held their wild drinking- 
parties apart. In appearing at the court of a prince or an ein- 
peror, a vulgar show of splendor was required, with many dec- 



334 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

orated horses and servants, to make up for deficiencies in char- 
acter and life. Thus the knight, like the prince, was common- 
ly embarrassed and burdened with debt, and the peasant had 
to toil the harder to make up his levies and contributions. 

§ 2. In the times of the early emperors, we found the vil- 
lages, in Austria, for example, enjoying a free and independ- 
ent life of their own ; and where they had resident magis- 
trates, as in Brandenburg, the villages were well organized 
and administered. The princes, in their want of money, had 
been compelled to assign the incomes of their villages to no- 
bles, who enforced their claims with violence and oppression.* 
Thus every where in Germany the peasants became bonds- 
men, and sank into such poverty as had not been known 
among them before. Every failure or misfortune of their 
master fell most severely on them. The more independent 
the knight became of his prince, the more he practiced the 
custom of jjrivate vengeance, and petty local wars raged 
ceaselessly through the German lands. But castles were 
hard to take ; so that enemies preferred to cut off one anoth- 
er's revenues by ravaging their villages, driving off the cat- 
tle, destroying the crops, and even by sowing weeds in the 
soil, so as to destroy its productiveness for long periods of 
time. Thus the whole burden of the age fell upon " the poor 
people," and their pleasure in life was gone. Then the Huss- 
ite war showed them the strength that lay even in the lower 
orders when united ; and the peasantry began to indulge 
their discontent and hatred, and at length to conspire to- 
gether against their masters. 

§ 3. Nor was the life of the nobles, who alone still enjoyed 
civil freedom, an enviable one. The banquet and the chase 
were almost the only pleasures which filled up their idle days, 
when not busy with their feuds. The mighty forests were 
full of game ; and so were many hunting-grounds which had 

* At an early period we find patches of land given to peasants as fiefs. 
Many freemen, too, voluntarily accepted a feudal tenure, and paid homage 
and fealty ; though they still formed a higher grade than the actual bonds- 
men. But in neither case was the peasant the independent owner of the land. 
It belonged to his feudal lord, who might be a noble or knight, a monastery 
or a prelate, to whom he was bound to render service, and by whom he might 
even be arbitrarily dispossessed. 



Chap. XIV. THE LIFE OF NOBLEMEN. 335 

once been the site of populous villages. Though the great 
wild ox and the elk had disappeared, there were still the 
bear and the wolf, and red and black game without number, 
which the peasant daied not kill, even when they wasted his 
own little farm. At a court festival, the knights were enter- 
tained with banquets, with princely hunting, and with toui'- 
naments, which were maintained as the last vestige of the 
nobler days of knighthood, and were now more formal and 
splendid than ever. But many noble knights could not sup- 
port the dignity of their rank. Bitter poverty often lurked 
within the walls of a small castle, where a knight, or a whole 
band of knights, lived with a few servants, a few half-starved 
horses, and a great pack of fierce dogs. Then despair, joined 
with a rude and unscrupulous disposition, often drove them 
to scandalous methods of obtaining a livelihood — to the free- 
booters' method, called " living by the stirrup," The servant 
on the watch-tower looked for the train of the merchant, 
moving over the wretched roads or upon the river; he called 
the greedy throng to horse, and they lay in ambush in the 
gloom of the wood, at an angle of the road, or by a chain 
stretched across the stream, until the convoy of beasts of 
burden, wagons or boats, with its guards, was thrown into 
confusion and mastered. The goods were carried off, and 
the tradesman placed in confinement, until ransomed at a 
heavy price, or, if this could not be, was jDut to a painful 
death. Such practices were indeed regarded as ignoble ; and 
worthy emperors, like Rudolph of Hapsburg, or often princes 
or powerful cities, would hang such knights over the ruins of 
their fastnesses ; but as long as no strong hand maintained 
order throughout the realm, such robbers' castles would ever 
spring up anew, like poisonous fungi, from the earth, as the 
degenerate nobles would from time to time turn to this last 
resource for obtaining the means of life. 

§ 4. It was the nobility of the Brandenburg territories that 
distinguished themselves by the most unbridled disorder. 
Under the Ascanii, they had been prohibited^ with the ex- 
ception of a few of the most eminent families, from possessing 
fortified castles. But in the wild times of the Bavarian and 
Luxemburg princes, even the lower nobility occupied for- 
tresses, and were constantly engaged in feuds among them- 



336 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

selves, or against the cities or the neighboring lords. They 
\vere not exactly freebooters ; but this unmeasured extension 
of the right of private revenge always carried with it the prac- 
tice of plunder. When Frederick of Hohenzollern entered 
the country, and strove to establish peace and law, he was 
opposed by the league of the Ouitzows — two brothers, who 
had many castles, and were the leaders of the nobles. They 
expected soon to drive away " the refuse of Nuremberg." 
But Frederick I. brought powder and cannon to crush their 
strong walls and their defiant spirits. In Southern and South- 
western Germany, in Suabia and Franconia, where the knights 
were in part vassals of the empire, or were aspiring to be 
such, they often came in conflict with the princes, who were 
also increasing their power. Thus they quarreled with Ever- 
ard the Grumbler, the bold Count of Wirtemberg. They 
formed leagues among themselves, to protect their power 
and independence. These were often tournament associa- 
tions, which met together, and adopted peculiar mottoes and 
armor as a distinction. But they soon grew bolder, and de- 
fied emperors and princes. Such a league, for instance, was 
that of the Schlegler in Suabia. Apart from the princes, 
they had also to contend with the valiant cities; and a com- 
mon hatred toward those often brought the nobles into a 
temporary alliance with the princes. This fierce knighthood 
fell before the new invention of gunpowder, which the strong- 
est walls could not resist. It was not until after this inven- 
tion that the permanent peace of the country could actually 
be maintained in Germany. 

§ 5. While the Knights Templars were cruelly suppressed 
in France as early as 1311, and the Knights of St. John with- 
drawn to Rhodes, and afterward to Malta, the German order, 
in its newly won domains on the Baltic Sea, had still a time 
of prosperity before it. Throughout the thirteenth century 
these knights carried on terrible contests with the original 
heathen inhabitants, the Prussians, and finally owed their 
victory entirely to the constant reinforcement of their num- 
bers by German crusaders. The land thus won and colonized 
was in the north, rough, full of lakes, swamps, and unbroken 
forests, yet yyell adapted for agriculture and for the shipping- 
trade ; and it soon became the home of a strong and valiant 



Chap. XIV. THE GERMAN ORDER OF KNIGHTS. 337 

body of Germans, who formed a "shield of the empire" 
against the Sclavonic East. Since the occupation of the or- 
der in the Holy Land was gone, its grandmaster removed in 
1309 to Marienburg, a magnificent castle on the right bank 
of the Nogat. Throughout the fourteenth century the order 
sustained its power and prosperity. The houses of the order 
had knights-commanders at their head, under the grandmaster; 
and each of them, called a convent, contained at tirst twelve 
knights, but in after-times often as many as thirty, or even 
fifty. The rules of the order were strictly observed, and a 
spirit of Christian morality and of knightly valor was main- 
tained. The order was the feudal lord of the conquered ter- 
ritories, which extended westward almost to the Oder, and 
eastward to Narva and Reval. The government was noble 
and humane, with no trace of slavery. The peasants were 
well off, and the land was opened by roads. Three hundred 
vessels loaded with corn were sent every year from the port 
of Dantzic to England and the Netherlands. The order and 
its territories were especially prosperous under the great 
grandmaster, Wienrich of Kuiprode, who died in 1382. Of 
the cities in this region, some were founded by the oi'der, as 
Thorn and Kulm, while othei'S were colonies from German 
cities, as Elbing was of Liibeck. They became numerous and 
important; some of them joined the Ilanse league, and grad- 
ually began to struggle for complete independence of the or- 
der, their feudal lord, aspiring to a position like that of the 
free cities of the empire. 

§ 6. This was the first step toward the ruin of the new 
state. Many men of noble birth came into the land, with 
the German colonists and peasants, and, though not members 
of the order, they entered its service and accepted fiefs as its 
vassals. Even ancient Prussian and Polish families thus be- 
came its feudal dependents, or acquired free lands by an ab- 
solute title; and from these classes grew up the nobles of the 
country, who acknowledged the order as its feudal lord, but 
soon entered on the same wild courses as the German nobili- 
ty. The order itself grew rich and arrogant, and its morals 
and discipline declined, until every security for the public 
peace was gone. Its discipline was well maintained as long 
as there were heathen enemies at hand. But when Ladislaw 

Z 



;338 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

Jagello, Prince of Lithuania, and his people became Chris- 
tians, its fortune turned. Here was a new and strong Scla- 
vonic power, which, under the stimulus of the ancient antip- 
athy between the two races, contested the control by Germans 
of the sea-coast and the mouths of the rivers. Against the 
German order, which was commanded by Grandmaster Ulric 
of Jungingen, Ladislaw led an army of more than a hundred 
and sixty thousand men, including, according to Sarmatian 
custom, vast hordes of cavalry. A bloody battle occurred at 
Tannenberg in 1410. The knights fought amid storm and 
rain, sustaining the honor of their order and of the German 
name ; but the grandmaster and the noblest of the command- 
ers were slain, and the order was utterly defeated. Henry 
of Plauen, however, a knight and a hero, saved Magdeburg 
from capture, and obtained peace on terms which left to the 
order most of its territory. 

§ 7. But the order needed money to pay the costs of the 
war and to redeem its captured members. For this purpose 
it levied oppressive duties, which could be collected only by 
ceding to the cities and the nobles a share in legislation. 
Many of the nobility, believing that under Polish sovereignty 
they would enjoy much greater license, turned against their 
German rulers. Even within the order confusion and a re- 
bellious disposition prevailed. Henry of Plauen himself fell 
a victim to the unbridled passions of his knights. No help 
could be expected from the emperors, neither from Sigismund, 
nor afterward from Frederick HI. Thus the nobles and cities 
were gradually led into open rebellion. The order found it 
necessary to pledge its castles, its last resort, as security for 
the pay of mercenary soldiers ; and the mortgagees sold them 
again to the King of Poland. Finally, in 1457, Lewis of Er- 
lichshausen, the grandmaster, left Marienburg itself, finding 
it impossible to redeem it from the hired troops. The war 
against the Poles lasted some time longer, but the order was 
at last compelled to accept the treaty of Thorn (1466), by 
which it ceded to Poland all West Prussia, the bishopric of 
Ermeland, and the cities of Eliding and Thorn, and accepted 
the remnant of its territories as a fief of that kingdom. The 
glory of the order was gone ; and so was the prosperity of 
the country, which never revived under Polish rule. The 



Chap. XIV. WAR BECOMES A TRADE. 339 

Sclavonic power grew in the East. The principal aim of the 
Brandenburg princes was always to resist its growth ; and 
they eventually succeeded in recovering the land of the or- 
der, and raising it to still greater importance. It was from 
this land that the Brandenburg electorate and kingdom took 
its own later name of Prussia. 

§ 8. It was with reluctance and discontent that the order 
submitted to the Polish sovereignty. The knights hoped to 
obtain more influence in the empire by selecting their grand- 
masters thenceforth from the great princely families of Ger- 
many. Thus an electoral prince was first placed at their 
head, then in 1511 Albert, a prince of Brandenburg, a grand- 
son of Albert Achilles. Yet this policy accomplished noth- 
ing. Albert did not even succeed in obtaining active assist- 
ance from his cousin, Joachim I. of Biandenburg, though he 
held out long in refusing to render homage to Poland. Since 
there was no prospect of aid from the empire, he finally yield- 
ed the feudal supremacy to Poland, but at the time of the Ref- 
orma'tion he formed the land of the order into a secular and 
hereditary duchy. 

§ 9. The knights having fallen into barbarism, the peasants 
into slavery, no more desirable life was to be found, except 
by men who bore arms. Even the bondsman in the castle, 
who was paid by his master, was better ofi" than the poor 
peasant. He was at least not one of the dowMitrodden ; he 
could catch glimpses of battle, booty, and pleasure. The 
ancient German valor was alive in these people, and history 
can tell many a tale of their faithfulness unto death. Others 
of this class preferred a wandering life. After the thirteent'.^ 
century, war was no longer carried on by a gcneial levy of 
the vassals, attended by a few mounted bondsmen, but by 
mercenaries who made arms their trade. Such a life was 
attractive to the man of spirit and strength, who could 
obtain armor, a lance, and a sword. It was hordes of sol- 
diers such as these who carried on war with the inhuman 
destructiveness characteristic of the times. Yet they pre- 
served a sort of knightly character, and kept alive among 
the people a delight in battle, in adventure and song, though 
of a rude kind. Almost every deed of arms among them 
was the theme of a song, and the praises of a wander- 



340 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

ing life were sounded in verse, with merry jests and bold 
mockery. 

§ 10. The lawlessness and disorder of the times deprived 
multitudes of their homes, and even of every inducement to 
seek or to make a home. The very love of adventure was 
strong enough to induce thousands to break all local and 
family ties, and to give themselves up to a life of wander- 
ing. During the fourteenth century, especially, all Germany 
swarmed with vagabonds of every degree. The rules of the 
artisan guilds required every young workman to travel for 
some years through strange cities, practicing his trade, be- 
fore he might establish himself at home ; and many of these 
journeymen became confirmed vagrants. Traveling knights, 
monks, scholars, women, players, jugglers, bufibons, peddlers, 
thieves and swindlers thronged through the land. Before 
the state and the authorities they were outlaws; but they 
were extremely welcome to the masses of the people, at all 
their festivals and public gatherings in the streets and upon 
holidays, and made merriment for all. Some of them became 
famous in popular legend, and are celebrated in tradition for 
their tricks and jests : as the Parson of Kalenberg, in South 
Germany, and " Till Eulenspiegel" in the North. Eulenspie- 
gel became a general name for a popular clown, or merry 
Andrew. (Hence the French words, Ulespiegle, espieglerie.) 
The exhibitions of the traveling actors and gladiators of the 
Roman Empire doubtless continued to be favorite amuse- 
ments of the German tribes throughout the dark ages, but 
were gradually modified in character, until they resulted in 
the buffoonery, the boxing -matches, and even the monkish 
miracle-plays of the fifteenth century. Many of the vagrants 
found patrons in the higher clergy or the rich proprietors and 
merchants ; and the favor which gaudily dressed dancing- 
women obtained from both spiritual and secular dignitaries 
was one of the scandals of pious observers of the times. 

§ 11. Whatever may have been the influence of these peo- 
ple on industry and morals, they were for several generations 
the guardians of the German minstrelsy. They assembled in 
numbers around the tables of the great lords, in the train of 
embassies and armies, at assemblies of the states and at pop- 
ular festivals, and sang the praises of princes and heroes in 



Chap. XIV. THE POPULAR MINSTRELSY. 341 

the intervals of their displays of jugglery and fortune-telling. 
Rarely did even the greatest nobleman or king dare to dis- 
miss them without their reward ; for they had it in their 
power to take a terrible revenge. Moving through the land, 
and singing every where among the people of the deeds and 
character of the men who bore great names, they exercised 
somewhat of the influence upon public opinion which the 
press now wields, and, when moved by one impulse of hatred 
or prejudice, might seriously injure the best reputation. In 
fact, they became the severest critics of the luxury, disso- 
luteness, and impiety of many of the bishops, and thus did a 
large share of the work of undermining the influence of the 
Church, and the superstitious reverence for the clergy, among 
the German people. The old minstrelsy of the minnesingers 
had disappeared ; its artificial and afiected tone was no longer 
acceptable to any ; and the popular taste welcomed the direct, 
often coarse and rough songs of the Avanderers, a genuine 
reflection of the mind and life of the people. The noblest 
among these singers were those who sang of parting and ab- 
sence, of faithful love, of longings for home, and of the de- 
lights of a wandering career. Many such old songs as these 
are still familiar in Germany, though their authors are utterly 
unknown — songs which seem to have grown up among the 
people, with the melodies to which they are wedded, like 
uncared-for but fragrant flowers of the forest. Besides these 
grew up also merry drinking-songs, and facetious rhymed 
proverbs. Pilgrims on their begging -tours also had their 
songs, and even in the musical devotions of the Church, Ger- 
man songs of praise soon took their place side by side with the 
ancient Latin hymns. Among the people were still sung the 
old heroic songs of Siegfried the Horned, Dietrich of Berne, 
and the faithful Hildebrand, until after Luther's day. But 
in North Germany they took more delight in the equally an- 
cient but merry and satirical stories of the sly Reinecke the 
Fox, in the Low-German dialect. There were many popular 
songs in the same language. 

§ 12. Thus German life did not lack song and music, play 
and jest. Even the higher classes preferred the rough wit 
of the people to tender knightly verse ; and the court fool 
became an indispensable person, often more esteemed by his 



342 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

prince than scholars and minstrels. Nor can it be denied 
that the manners of all classes grew more loose and frivolous. 
The dignified dress of earlier times went out with the thir- 
teenth century. The men afterward wore closely fitting gar- 
ments of varied colors ; and the women and girls no longer 
went about modestly covered with head-band and veil. The 
fashions became silly and petty at last. The men wore, with 
their short coats that scarcely reached beyond the belt, huge, 
puffed sleeves, covered with pearls and gold lace, or else 
adorned with ribbons that almost reached the ground. Their 
I trousers were of staring colors, one leg, for instance, blue, 
' and the other red ; the shoes and boots came forward in 
long points, which young knights must cut ofi" before a 
battle. The seams of the velvet and brocade garments of 
! both men and women were often set with little bells, which 
' rang at every step. Thus the upper ranks of society moved 
about in cities and at courts, strange and striking objects. 
But dress was certainly a much more important part of 
life, especially to the male sex, than it is now. It was at 
once the expression of personal dignity, and the badge of 
rank, profession, or trade. Rival families, guilds, and cities 
competed with one another in devising rich or conspicuous 
forms of attire, and in the fourteenth century the several 
classes in the social scale began to be rigidly distinguished 
by their dress — a custom which was maintained until the 
French Revolution. Delicate food and delicious drinks were 
also among the chief cares of those who could aflTord such in- 
dulgence. The rhymers of the times find scarcely any thing 
more inspiring in their eulogies than the dishes and wines 
' consumed by their heroes. The inventions of foreign cooks, 
' especially the French and Greeks, were in demand. Hot spices 
were used in almost incredible quantities in the food ; pepper, 
cinnamon, cloves, and nutmegs were held in especial esteem. 
Wine was made every where, even in North Germany, and 
the vintage in the South was earlier than it is now, since the 
forests have been so much reduced. Great cities rivaled 
one another in preparing beverages : Aix was famous for its 
mead, Erfurt proud of its beer. Ulm was the chief market 
for all kinds of wine, which were valued less for their purity 
and natural flavor than for the aromatic and "medicinal" 



I 



Chap. XIV. CHARACTER OF THE CLERGY. 343 

qualities given them by spices. The streets, rnarket-places, 
and drinking -booths formed in the evening a general ex- 
change for the news and gossip of the day. 

§ 13. The clergy were sunk in worldliness. The Church 
was so degenerate, especially after the popes in Avignon set 
the example, and the great schism of the antipopes confused 
men's faith, that bishops, abbots, deans, and chaplains often 
thought of nothing but consuming their rich livings, or at 
most of going through the forms of public worship, and for 
the rest took their full share in all the vicious pleasures of 
the times. In spite of the prohibitions of the Church, multi- 
tudes of the priests had wives, though their numerous chil- 
dren bore the stigma of illegitimacy ; and the priests them- 
selves, burdened in their own consciences, and taught to 
dread their very ministrations of sacred things as deadly 
sins, became objects of pity and contempt. Most of the reg- 
ular clergy or monks took their vows only to secure a living 
in idleness ; and the common people mocked them. Many 
of the popular proverbs of the times expressed the general 
view of their aims; for instance, one of these says: "If you 
want one good time, kill a fowl ; if you want one a year 
long, take a wife ; but if you must have a good time all 
your days, turn priest." We find complaints that the clergy 
threw off the clerical garb, and moved about in the same 
idle and showy clothing as the laity ; that they rode to the 
chase wnth falcons on their hands ; that they sold the awful 
denunciations of the Church, the ban and interdict, to sat- 
isfy their avarice, or perhaps for beer ; that they brought not 
peace, but a sword. Thus the Archbishop of Mayence rode 
to the Council of Constance clad in complete armor. While 
half the people groaned in indescribable poverty, the other 
and privileged half seemed to forget, in their mad pursuit of 
pleasure, all the serious objects of life. But a little external 
ceremony, very like a pleasant game, with a trifling act of 
penance or the purchase of a cheap "indulgence," was enough 
to make peace with the Church, and, for those who Avould 
and could be thus satisfied, with their own consciences. The 
clergy as a class, therefore, were in ill repute, and were little 
trusted; yet we find that the few among them whose con- 
sistent piety gained them the confidence of the people were 



344 HISTORY OF GEEJVIANY. Book III. 

held in the highest reverence, and were consulted in spiritual 
things by throngs of penitents. 

§ 14. i3efore the middle of the fourteenth century there 
were many leading minds which had attained views of Chris- 
tian doctrine and of Church reform as advanced as those 
with which Luther startled all Europe five generations later. 
But a series of the most awful and melancholy events in his- 
tory now threw Christendom, and esiaecially Germany, into 
confusion, and seemed to threaten a return of barbarism. In 
the year 1348 the superstitious were under extraordinary ex- 
citement, with rumors of strange portents and signs in nat- 
ure, and of the approaching end of the world ; when a fright- 
ful pestilence, which had already ravaged China, Tartary, 
and the Levant, broke out in Southern France, and rapidly 
extended over all Europe, spreading terror before it. This 
"Black Death," as it was called, not only destroyed far larger 
numbers of people than any other calamity in human annals, 
but it had an immense influence on the mode of thought, the 
character and life, of the survivors ; yet the authentic ac- 
counts we have of it are but meagre, and the statistics ex- 
tremely vague. One of the very few precise details transmit- 
ted to us is that the Franciscan Minorite monks of Germany 
alone actually kept an account of the deaths among them by 
this plague, and they numbered 124,434, It is believed by 
the most careful investigators, howevei", that Europe lost by 
this pestilence much more than a fourth of its whole popula- 
tion, and German historians assert that one half of their own 
nation perished in it. Many towns, villages, and districts 
were utterly depopulated ; and even in great cities men 
could not be found to bury the dead. Ships with rich car- 
goes were found drifting at sea, with not one of the crew left 
to tell of their misery. As there was no sanitary science, and 
hnedical skill was confessedly helpless, the people were in 
blank dismay ; half of them frantic with zeal to avert God's 
wrath by prayer or penance, half of them busy with sus- 
picions of a conspiracy to destroy them, and thirsting for re- 
venge. Whenever men have been placed in masses face to 
face with such an awful and unavoidable calamity, all re- 
straints of character and education have given way. As in 
Athens in b.c, 430, as in London a,d, 1665, so this plague 



Chap. XIV. SLAUGHTER OF THE JEWS. 345 

brought with it a moral pestilence, still more terrible than 
itself. Regard for the rights of others or for their own future 
was cast away by the multitude, and free sway was given 
to the desperate eifort for immediate gratification. The two 
years during which the plague kept its course through Ger- 
many undid the work of generations in civilizing the thoughts 
and manners of the people. And it is hard to say whether 
during this time the influence of religion in checking immo- 
rality and consoling sorrow was as great as that of the super- 
stitions connected with it in producing consternation and 
inciting to cruelty. 

§ 15. As soon as the Black Death entered France, a cry 
arose that the Jews had formed a general conspiracy to poi- 
son the springs and wells, and to destroy the Ciiristians. Re- 
ligious toleration had been making rapid progress during the 
two centuries preceding. In 1254 the city league declared 
that its protection would be extended alike to Jews and to 
Christians. In 1347 the Emperor Charles IV. directed the 
city of Spires to enroll the Jews among its citizens. And 
now, in July, 1348, when the outcry against the Jews became 
serious. Pope Clement VI. issued a bull, forbidding Chris- 
tians, under penalty of excommunication, to slay a Jew, bap- 
tize him by force, or rob him of his property without a ju- 
dicial process. As the bigoted fury of the populace began 
to threaten the richest and most enterprising citizens of many 
of the cities, the authorities did their best to check it and to 
protect the threatened sect. But it was in vain. They were 
seized by the mob, and in some places, as in Berne and Frei- 
burg, the weak magistrates yielded, and put them to the tor- 
ture. The confessions wrested from their agony were at once 
carried to all the cities, with the news that in Zufingen the 
poison had actually been found ; and the terrified populace 
became uncontrollable. Two thousand Jews were burned at 
Berne, as many more at Strasburg. At Cologne the mob 
broke into the Jewish quarter, burned the houses, and slaugh- 
tered the helpless inhabitants without mercy. Throughout 
all the cities of the archbishopric they met the same fate ; 
and all their goods were then divided between the archbish- 
op and the city, by a formal compact, which begins by recit- 
ing that " all the Jews in the city as well as in the province • 



346 HI8T0RY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

of Cologne, have unfortunately been slain and are dead." In 
Basle, Constance, Freiburg, and in nearly every city of Al- 
sace, Franconia, and Bavaiia, there were frightful massacres. 
In Worms, Spires, Oppenheim, and Mayence, the chroniclers 
assure us, the Jews shut themselves up in their own quarters 
to escape the populace, and put themselves to death in a 
body. A few voices were raised for mercy, but it was long 
before they were heeded ; and meanwhile by far the greater 
part of all the Jews in Germany were destroyed. Nor is the 
superstitious horror of the people for an Israelite the worst 
feature of these occurrences: brutal passion and a thirst for 
plunder quickly became the leading forces in the persecution. 
A contemporary chronicler truly says, " Their money was 
the poison which slew the Jews." 

§ 16. This persecution of the Jews, one of the most cruel 
and destructive outbreaks of national and social prejudice 
ever known, can not fairly be charged upon the Church and 
the religion of the times. The higher clergy and all men 
honored for their piety opposed it. But the agitations caused 
by the religious feelings and superstitions of the people were 
scarcely less ruinous to society and to character. Multitudes 
of fanatical preachers and sects rose up among the ignorant, 
teaching that the plague was God's special vengeance upon 
national or personal sins, and could only be averted by pen- 
ance. The most noted of these sects was that of the " Flag- 
ellants," or scourgers, which first appeared in Italy in the 
thirteenth century, and was afterward revived at various 
times of public affliction in several cities of Italy and Ger- 
many; but after the Black Death came, in 1349, it suddenly 
overspread the nation. They marched through the country, 
several hundreds together, in a well-disciplined procession. 
Twice each day — in the morning and in the evening — they 
did penance. Singing psalms, they stripped themselves to 
the waist, and scourged one another in turn with thongs 
armed with iron points, which lacerated the flesh. They 
would tolerate no begging and receive no gifts ; nor could 
any one be admitted to join them unless able to pay four- 
pence a day for his own expenses. They bore as their char- 
ter a letter, said to have been written in marble by the divine 
hand at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem, 



Chap. XIV. THE VEHM-GERICHT. 347 

declaring that God had resolved to destroy the world for its 
sins, but, through the mediation of Christ and of Mary, would 
show mercy, if men would repent and endure penance. Un- 
der the terrors of the plague, the people in vast throngs fol- 
lowed these fanatics, and were deeply impressed by their 
preaching; but Pope Clement VI. forbade their processions, 
and excommunicated thern, October 20, 1349. The Flagel- 
lants boldly defied the pope for a time, but when the pestilence 
declined, their power was gone. A few of them continued 
to preach against the pope and the Church, sometimes fore- 
shadowing the purer doctrines of the Reformation, but in 
general their fanaticism passed all bounds ; and their unsuc- 
cessful attempts to work miracles, and the many claimants 
among them of Messianic honors, rapidly brought them into 
disrepute. Indeed, the great religious movement occasioned 
by the plague seems to have been but superficial and tempo- 
rary. As soon as the pestilence subsided, an old chronicler 
remarks, " The world began again to be merry, and men made 
them new clothes, and sang new airs." 

§ 17. At this time superstition and dense ignorance were 
widespread. Stories of magic were constantly told and be- 
lieved, and the miracles with which the Church offset them 
were hardly less absurd. Other terrors were added. Public 
justice was administered so imj^erfectly that private and ar- 
bitrary violence took its place; while the tribunals which 
formerly sat in the open sunlight before the people now cov- 
ered themselves with night and secrecy. " The Holy Feme " 
sprang up in Westphalia. Originally a public tribunal of the 
city, such as is found in Brunswick, and in other places, it 
afterward spread far and wide, but in a changed form. Its 
members held their sessions in secret and by night. Un- 
known messengers of the tribunal summoned the accused. 
Disguised judges, volunteer officers, from among "the know- 
ing ones," gave judgment, often in wild, desolate places, and 
often in some ancient seat of justice, as at the Linden-tree 
at Dortmund, The sentence was executed, even if the crim- 
inal had not appeared or had made his escape. The dagger, 
with the mark of the Feme, found in the dead body, told how 
surely the avenging arm had struck in the darkness. It was 
a fearful time, when Justice, like crime, must walk in disguise. 



348 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

§ 18. The habits of thought which made possible such be- 
liefs and actions as these were part of the same movement 
to which the corruption of Church doctrine and government 
must also be referred. The perverted Roman Christianity 
from which the Reformation was a revolt was not the Chris- 
tianity of Charlemagne, nor even that of Hildebrand. Hasty 
readei's sometimes imagine that the Church, for many centu- 
ries before the Reformation, had firmly held the doctrines 
which Luther rejected. But, in fact, most of them were re- 
cent innovations. Peter the Lombard, Bishop of Paris in the 
twelfth century, was the first theologian to enumerate " the 
Seven Sacraments," and Eugene IV., in 1431, was the first of 
the popes to proclaim them. The doctrine of transubstan- 
tiation was first embodied in the Church Confession by the 
Lateran Council of November, 1215, the same which first re- 
quired auricular confession of all the laity. It was more than 
a century later before the celibacy of the clergy and the de- 
nial of the sacramental cup to all but priests became estab- 
lished law, and the idea that the pope is the vicar of Christ 
upon earth, and the bearer of divine honors, was accepted. 
All these corruptions of the earlier faith were the results of 
ambition in the hierarchy, and of gross and sensual modes of 
thought in the people; and the same causes led to the rapid 
development, in the fifteenth century especially, of the wor- 
ship of the Virgin Mary, who was honored with ceremonies 
and prayers from which Christians of earlier ages would have 
shrunk as blasphemous. Nor can the Church of the begin- 
ning of the sixteenth century be understood by studying the 
Confession adopted bj'^ the Council of Trent a generation or 
more afterward. The teachings and practices which called 
forth Luther's protest were far too gross, when once explain- 
ed, to bear the examination of sincere friends of Romanism; 
who, without knowing it themselves, were greatly influenced, 
even in their formal statements of belief, by the contro- 
versies of the Reformation. The value of that great event 
to the world can not be comprehended without a knowledge 
of what it has done for the Catholic Church within its own 
boundaries. 

§ 19. But long before the epoch which is known as "the 
Reformation," there began to spread quietly abroad, in spite 



Chap. XIV. EEFORMEES BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 349 

of the persecutions of the Church and of the degenerate or- 
ders, a new spirit of true Christianity. It was fostered, for 
instance, by the brotherhoods and the Lollards, on the Rhine 
and in the Netherlands. Individual preachers, too, like Tau- 
ler in Strasburg, faithfully pointed to the almost forgotten 
sources of religious truth. Many of these quiet, true Chris- 
tians sealed their faith by imprisonment and death ; but they 
planted the germs of a new moral life, which produced fruit 
in the following period of reform. Indeed, the honorable 
title of " Reformers before the Reformation " can not be lim- 
ited to the few names whose extraordinary genius or fate has 
made them conspicuous in history. The doctrines of Huss 
lived on in Bohemia and the neighboring lands long after the 
martyrdom of the great teacher. "Heresies" of all kinds 
were rife throughout Europe, although multitudes of them 
are without any record, save that of the hierarchy which 
cruelly suppressed them. Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor 
of Ferdinand and Isabella, died in 1498, after burning alive 
nearly nine thousand persons. Savonarola was put to death 
in that year by the Church authorities, for preaching right- 
eousness in Florence. In the same way with Spain, Italy, 
and England, Germany was filled with zealous inquiry and 
protest. Ilans Boheim in Franconia, John von Wesel in 
Worms, John Geiler in Strasburg, referred the multitudes 
that thronged after them to the teachings of Christ in Script- 
ure, as an antidote to the errors and falsehoods of the Church ; 
while scholarly writers among the clergy, as well as earnest, 
popular exhorters, were proclaiming with assurance the ap- 
proach of a great spiritual revolution. Thus we may still 
clearly, though imperfectly, trace through the history of the 
popular mind a progressive preparation for the reform move- 
ment, from the beginning of the fifteenth century to the ap- 
pearance of Luther. 

§ 20. Until the fourteenth century, learning was entirely 
dependent on the Church, All that was known or attempted 
in history, natural science, and other branches of knowledge, 
must accommodate itself to the conceptions of Catholic Chris- 
tianity. The desire to establish religious doctrine more and 
more on the foundations of growing reason and intelligence 
gave rise to the theological science of scholastics, in which 



350 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

men such as the Italians Anselm and Thomas Aquinas distin- 
guished themselves, as well as the German Albertus Magnus 
of Cologne, whose mysterious knowledge and " white mag- 
ic" legend makes so wonderful. But this science, which at 
first did service to serious religious thought, in part degener- 
ated toward the end of the Middle Ages into absurd verbal 
quibbling, and in part began to encourage doubts of the 
teachings of the Church. In the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries arose a general tendency to new ideas and modes 
of life ; more attention was given to nature and to the inves- 
tigation of its laws, though superstitious aims were still con- 
nected with such studies. Thus, when the heavens were stu- 
diously examined, it was less with the purpose of extending 
the scientific knowledge of the heavenly bodies, which we 
call astronomy, than of reading in them future events and 
human destinies, as astrology pretends to do. When sub- 
stances were analyzed and recompounded, and the elements 
of chemistry, first discovered by the Arabians, were further 
investigated, it was the alchemist's credulous aim to acquire 
some mysterious power in the arts, to make the philosopher's 
stone, the elixir of life, or, above all, to produce gold. Even 
the elements of geometry and algebra, which were also 
brought from Arabia to Western Europe, did not escape su- 
perstitious abuse. Thus the infancy of science was still con- 
nected with the whole traditional world of magic and the 
invocation of spirits, which lay so deeply rooted in the minds 
of that age. 

§ 21. A higher intelligence made its way very gradually. 
The art of printing was the most potent influence in promot- 
ing its growth. This was a German invention, and perhaps 
the greatest service Germany has done to mankind. The art 
of wood-engraving was the most important preliminary step 
toward it. The popular playing-cards were made by cutting 
the figures out in relief, covering these with moist colors, and 
stamping them. This invention Avas soon used for pictures 
of sacred scenes and persons; and while the people could 
neither read nor write, they had in collections of such pict- 
ures a sort of Bible. Then legends, names, or verses were 
cut under the pictures ; and then the pictures were sometimes 
entirely omitted, and whole pages of reading-matter cut and 



Chap. XIV. RAPID GROWTH OF THE ART OF PRINTING. 351 

stamped, forming a book. But the grand conception of mak- 
ing movable types, each bearing a single letter, and compos- 
ing the words of them, was iirst formed by John Guten- 
berg, of the patrician family of Ganseileisch, of Mayence. He 
was driven from his native city by a distui'bance among the 
guilds, and went to Strasburg, where he invented the art of 
printing about the year 1450. Great trouble was experienced 
in discovering the proper material in which to cut the sep- 
arate letters; neither wood nor lead answered well. Being 
short of resources, Gutenberg formed a partnership with John 
Faust, also of Mayence. Faust's assistant, Peter SchoiFer, 
afterward his son-in-law, a skillful copyist and draughtsman, 
discovered the proper alloy for type-metal, and invented 
printing-ink. In 1461 appeared the first large book printed 
in Germany, a handsome Bible, exhibiting the perfection that 
the art possessed at its very origin. Gutenberg was deprived 
of the benefits of the invention by Faust, who bought in the 
entire establishment, under a sale for his own debt. But 
Gutenberg afterward found another partner, and went on 
with the business elsewhere. 

§ 22. When Adolphus of Nassau captured Mayence in 1462, 
the workmen skilled in the art, which had been kept a secret, 
were scattered through the world ; and by the end of the 
fifteenth century the principal nations of Europe, and es- 
pecially Italy, France, and England, had become rivals of 
Germany in prosecuting it. Books had previously been 
transcribed, chiefly by monks, upon expensive parchment, 
and often beautifully ornamented with elaborate drawings 
and paintings. They had therefore been an article of luxury, 
and confined to the rich. But a book printed on paper was 
easily made accessible to all classes, for copies were so nu- 
merous that each could be sold at a low price. Besides 
books of devotion, the writings of the Greek and Latin poets, 
historians, and philosophers, most of which had fallen into 
oblivion during the Middle Ages, now gradually obtained 
wide circulation. After the fall of Constantinople, and the 
subjugation of Greece by the Turks, fugitive Greeks brought 
the works of their forefathers' genius to Italy, where en- 
lightened men had already begun to study them. This 
bi-anch of learning, called "the Humanities," spread from 



352 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book III. 

Italy through Germany, France, England, and other coun- 
tries, and contributed powerfully to produce a finer taste 
and more intelligent habits of thought, sucTi as put to shame 
the rude ignorance of the monks. It was the art of printing 
that broke down the slavery in which the blind faith of the 
Church held the human mind; and even the censorship 
which Rome set up to oppose it was not able to undo its 
work. 

§ 23. Just as the convents fell before the art of printing, so 
did the castles of the robber knights before the invention of 
gunpowder. Thus, at the coming of the Reformation, these 
degenerate remnants of the once noble institution of knight- 
hood were swept away. It is supposed by many that the 
knowledge of gunpowder was brought into Europe from 
China during the great Mongolian emigration of the thir- 
teenth century, the Chinese having long possessed it. The 
Arabs, too, understood how to make explosive powder, by 
mixing saltpeter, charcoal, and sulphur. But all the Eastern 
makers produced only the fine powder, and the art of mak- 
ing it in grains seems to have been the device of Berthold 
Schwarz, a German monk of the Franciscan order, of Frei- 
burg or Mayence, in 1354; and he is commonly called the 
inventor of gunpowder. He had a laboratory, in which he 
devoted himself to alchemy ; and is said to have made his 
discovery by accident. But as early as 1346, a chronicle re- 
ports that there was at Aix "an iron barrel to shoot thunder;" 
and in 1356 the armory at Nuremberg contained guns of 
iron and of copper, which threw missiles of stone and lead. 
One of the earliest instances in which cannon are known to 
have been effectively used in a great battle was at Agin- 
court in 1415. But gunpowder was long regarded with ab- 
horrence by the people, and made its way into general use 
but slowly. 

§ 24. The invention of gunpowder ultimately wrought a 
complete revolution in the art of war; though it is a mistake 
to attribute to it the rapid growth in importance of the in- 
fantry during the fourteenth century. This is rather due to 
the efficiency of the pike, in the hands of a footman, as a de- 
fense against cavalry. But the value of infantry vastly in- 
creased, as, by successive improvements, muskets became 



Chap. XIV. GUNPOWDER AKD CIVILIZATION. 353 

manageable and effective. The principal strength of an 
army was then necessarily in its foot- soldiers, and much 
greater skill was demanded in handling troops. The can- 
nons lirst cast were heavy, and threw stone balls, which were 
often carefully rounded by filling out their irregularities with 
lead. Of this kind were the " thunder-guns" used by the city 
of Augsburg, in the city war of 1388. The French artiller- 
ists greatly improved their weapons, casting lighter pieces, 
which could be moved upon the field, and threw iron balls. 
The first musket, probably an Italian invention, was cumber- 
some, and the soldier carried a forked stick for a rest. All 
guns were fired by matches ; flint-locks were not devised un- 
til the sixteenth century. The invention of fire-arms, whether 
or not it has proved a life-saving agency, on the whole, as 
many modern writers aftirm, certainly did a great service to 
mankind at the end of the Middle Ages. The military caste 
of knighthood, with all the social evils which were supported 
by it, was swept away with ease; for no body-armor could 
resist the new missiles. The robber knights could no longer 
make their castles dens of plunder, and defy assault, Fred- 
erick, the first of the Hohenzollerns, could not have crushed 
his defiant and turbulent nobles, with their castle "walls 
fourteen feet thick," nor could the brave Swiss infantry have 
destioyed the heavy knights of Charles the Bold and of Fran- 
cis I., without gunpowder. Knighthood had lost its poeti-y, 
its grace, and its nobleness ; and while its empty form con- 
tinued to murmur against this ignoble means of warfare, the 
new explosive agent cleared the way for the citizens and the 
industrious middle classes to their true position and woik in 
the nation's progress. 

A A 



BOOK IV. 

THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY; FROM LUTHER TO 
THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA, 1517-1648. 



CHAPTER XV. 

BEGINJnNG AND EARLY PROGRESS OF THE REFOKMATION ; 
LUTHER. 

§ 1. Religious Character of the Germans. § 2. The Decay of the Empire 
Favorable to the Reformation. § 3. Degeneracy of the Church. § -i. Lu- 
ther's "Theses" against Tetzel. § 5. Early Life of Luther. § 6. His Re- 
ligious Experiences. § 7. The Controversy upon Indulgences. § 8. Car- 
dinal Caietanus as Mediator. § 9. The House of Hapsburg and the 
French Monarchy. § 10. Charles V. becomes Emperor. § 11. His Re- 
lations to Germany. § 12. His Power Limited ; Disorders in Saxony 
and Wirtemberg. § 13. The Disputation at Leipsic. § 11. Luther's 
Writings. § \~>. The Pope's Bull Burned. § IG. The Diet at Worms. 
§ 17. Disposition of the People. § 18. Luther before the Diet. § 19. Fa- 
naticism at Wittenberg. § 20. Luther's Letter to Elector Frederick. 
§ 21. War in South Germany; Ulric von Hiitten. § 22. Condition of the 
Peasants. § 23. The War in Suabia. § 24. The Rebellion Suppressed. 
§ 25. War in Thuringia. § 26. Progress of the Reformation. 

§ 1. The time had now come when the Germans were to 
render their most important service to mankind. The great 
reformation of Christianity in the sixteenth century found its 
origin and support in the character of the German race. 
Froin the beginning these people were always distinguished 
by their preference of substance to form, of reality to show, 
of the inward and spiritual to all clothing and display. Of 
the ancient heathen nations, they alone, as Tacitus describes 
them, regarded the gods as too great to dwell in temples 
made by hands, or to be represented by graven images ; 
they alone founded their whole social structure upon the 
sacredness of the marriage tie, with the family as the unit of 
society and its head as the priest of their religion. They 



I 



Chap. XV. RELIGION AMONG THE GERMANS. 355 

were also, from the first, the most independent and mdividual 
of men, passionate in their love of freedom, Protestants by 
nature in Church and State, resolute in upholding the right 
of private judgment. These characteristics prevented the 
German Empire from becoming a national power, but also 
saved the German mind from complete enslavement by the 
papacy, and in the fullness of time made it the centre and 
chief field of the Reformation. Such a people could not rest 
in a religion of ordinances and mechanism ; they must wor- 
shij) God in person and not by proxy. For ages, pious minds 
among them had found refuge and comfort in the teachings 
of the mystics, or in the quiet enjoyment and practice of such 
fragments of the pure Gospel as a sensual, formal priesthood 
left to them ; but the heart of the nation longed for some- 
thing better, and needed only one trumpet call from a bold, 
earnest warrior of the truth, to throw off the whole fabric of 
superstition. Throughout the fifteenth, century the mass 
of intelligent Christians in Germany had been looking for a 
reform through the action of the Catholic Church itself; and 
the Council of Biisle, in 1431, gave earnest expression to this 
desire and purpose. But the popes, with the vast majority 
of the clergy, were cunning enough to defeat all such efforts; 
and thus postponed the reformation until the people were so 
far instructed in the truth, and alienated from the Church 
and its corruptions, as to be ready for a religious revolution. 
§ 2. At the beginning of the sixteenth century there were 
many German princes who were honorable and patriotic in 
thought and deed; but their influence, though considerable, 
accomplished no more than to secure for the empire the per- 
manent peace and the division into circles, the beginnings, 
at least, of a more secure state of society. We have already 
seen what a swarm of petty independent powers had now 
grown up, apart from the great princes, and running down- 
ward from them to the abbot or knight " of the empire." 
This subdivision of power was in some respects an aid to the 
Reformation, since there could be no thorough and systematic 
suppression of the new doctrines when embraced by indi- 
vidual feudal lords or cities ; but it had this disadvantage, 
that it prevented the nation as a whole from making a de- 
cision which should bind it as a whole, whereas in England, 



356 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

Sweden, and Denmark, the monarch's will gave unity and 
expression to that of the nation. Germany was thus, through 
the condition of the empire, made incapable of deciding 
in a mass, for good or evil, and was therefore only more 
divided and distracted than ever. The Reformers could not 
accomplish a political reconstitution of the realm ; and thus 
the internal confusion and powerlessness of Germany, in the 
midst of its apparent external prosperity, came to the high- 
est point just when nearly all the neighboring countries, and 
especially France, attained the unity and strength of estab- 
lished monarchies. But Germany, in losing its power, which 
had so long been regarded as the greatest in the Western 
world, obtained in exchange only the richer development of 
its intellectual life. Thought became firmer and more pro- 
found, policy more earnest and sympathetic, and where the 
pressure of need had been felt for ages as a burden, there 
trust in God and ^ serious morality remained most firndy 
established and most pure. 

§ 3. But the other great power of the Middle Ages, the 
Church, was more degenerate than the empire. The Church 
had of old been regarded as universal, but the veneration it 
received suffered much from the great schism. General 
councils had been held, in the hope of doing away with 
abuses, and accomplishing a reformation in its head and in 
its members. These efforts had failed; they merely re- 
stored the unity of the Church organization, which seemed to 
have been renewed only to carry on its abuses with greater 
vigor than ever. It was not only that the papal chair itself 
was occupied in the period after these councils by such moral 
monsters as Alexander VI. (Borgia) ; but much in life and 
doctrine that could not be reconciled with the Gospel was 
sustained by the authority of the Church. Many parts of the 
doctrine taught had little or no connection with the New 
Testament, and rested only on the wavering " tradition of the 
Church:" as the belief in purgatory, in the priestly office, and 
in the seven sacraments. Some were in direct antagonism 
to the teaching and practice of the early Church, such as the 
denial of the sacramental cup to the laity, the doctrine of the 
merit of good works (fasting, pilgrimages, penance, and the 
like), and that of indulgences. The last-named doctrine, in 



Chap. XV. DEGENERACY OF THE CHURCH. 357 

particular, had, in the course of tlie later centuries, cut louse 
from every Christian conception, and taken the precise form 
of the sale for money of pardon for sin. The voices of true 
Christians, in protest against such practices, were never en- 
tirely silenced, but they were either disregarded or suj^pressed. 
It had long been no secret that the morals of the clergy of 
all grades were degenerate, and that the convents were no 
longer abodes of learning, but of ignorance and indulgence. 
"More ignorant than a monk," was the commonest of popu- 
lar sayings. Long before Luther's time, the songs and the 
jests of the people had made the parsons and the monks and 
the idle practices of the Church their favorite theme of mock- 
ery. Finally, the study of " the Humanities " enlightened the 
thoughts and taste of the educated classes ; it often deeply 
impressed the minds of popes, cardinals, and prelates, and 
was zealously prosecuted by them. The effect of the new 
culture, then, was that they in private ridiculed the supersti- 
tion of the masses, which brought them such advantages, and 
they sometimes abandoned all belief in Christianity. But 
these studies could not regenerate men's minds; and their 
influence did not reach the mass of the people. They still 
accepted the easy and agreeable forms of the Church, called 
diligently on the Virgin Mary and the saints, and lived a life 
destitute of all high spiritual feeling, of all profound moral 
principle. The condition of the Church at this time was in 
startling contrast to its far more venerable though gloomy 
and monastic form in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. 

§ 4. Intelligent and well-meaning men were still meditat- 
ing upon a thorough reformation of the Church as necessary 
at some remote or indefinite time, when the most remarka- 
ble event in history since the great migration burst upon 
them. It Avas in the last days of Maximilian, when Leo X. 
was pope, that Albert, Archbishop of Mayence. under an 
agreement with the pope, proclaimed an indulgence in his 
diocese. This offer was nothing new or ixncommon in itself; 
but John Tetzel, the peddler of indulgences, a Dominican 
monk, pressed his trade with peculiar impudence. He boast- 
ed that he had brought more souls to heaven by his indul- 
gences than all the apostles by their preaching. He came to 
Jiiterbogk, near the new L^niversity of Wittenberg, founded 



358 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

by Frederick tlie Wise, At that institution the professor of 
theology was Dr. Martin Luther, a monk and a priest, who 
had learned at the confessional the irajjression which this 
shameful traffic made in the confused minds of the credu- 
lous people. His heart was fired; and on October 31, 1517, 
he set up, after the custom of learned men of that day, on 
the door of the castle church at Wittenberg, ninety-five prop- 
ositions or theses, which he engaged to defend against the 
world. They asserted that God alone could forgive sin, and 
would do so only upon true repentance ; and that the pope 
had no power but that of every priest to pronounce absolu- 
tion, in God's name, to all penitent believers ; that in its 
present form the indulgence was unchristian, and contrary to 
the true Catholic faith, and must be proclaimed without any 
real knowledge of it by the pope, " who would rather burn St. 
Peter's Cathedral to ashes than build it up with the skin and 
hair, the flesh and blood of his flock." Luther thus humbly 
began his work with perfect confidence in the truth, but with- 
out any apprehension of the consequences that would follow. 
§ 5. Martin Luther was a man of the common people, who^e 
hearts had preserved more of their simple faith and piety 
than those of their rulers. He was the son of a miner of 
Mansfeld, in the Hartz Mountains, and was born at Eisleben, 
November 10, 1483, The mountains that shut in the dreary 
valley of his home are gloomy, bare, and marked with heaps 
of black refuse ; the house of his parents was small and poor, 
and the early discipline of the household and of the school 
was severe. Here the boy of the wonderful depth of soul 
grew up till his fourteenth year, when his parents, thinking 
his gifts remarkable, sent him to the Latin school, first with 
the Franciscans at Magdeburg, and then with his mother's 
kindred at Eisenach. It was the discipline of want and self- 
denial which completed his education here, but his power 
grew under pressure. In 1501, at the age of eighteen, he went 
to the university at Erfurt. His father had now been taken 
into the service of the Count of Mansfeld, and was well-to-do, 
and wished Martin to study law, and to rise in the world. 
But the young man found the Bible in the university library, 
and it turned his heart another way. The sudden death of a 
fi'iend, and the fall of a stroke of lightning at his side, im- 



Chap. XV. RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF LUTHER. 359 

pressed him deeply, as did a dangerous illness of his own, and 
his mind was profoundly agitated by the question how his 
own soul stood with God. He had lived an honorable and 
pure life, but felt that there was much in his own heart that 
the Eternal Judge could not approve. His tender and ex- 
cited conscience sought rest in the means prescribed by the 
Church, but could find none. At length he resolved to escape 
from perplexity and temptation by devoting himself to a 
"religious" life, in entire separation from the world. He 
entered a convent, and became an Augustine monk at Erfurt 
in 1505. 

§ 6. Luther now devoted all his energies to the duties of 
his new life ; but even the severest penance failed to bring 
him peace. But through all these painful and prolonged fail- 
ures, he forced his way to a vivid ajiprehension of the teach- 
ing of Paul, and of St. Augustine, the saint of his order, that 
no man can be justified by the works of the law, or by any 
outward action, but only by the grace of God, received by 
faith in the heart. From that time he felt himself a changed 
man. Tiie torturing conflicts of his mind ceased, and he be- 
came calm and joyful; so that in after-days, amid the most 
terrible dangers, he could smile and sleep like a child. Stau- 
pitz, the vicar of bis order, who had been a faithful guide to 
hina during his internal conflicts, recommended him in 1508 
as a teacher to the University of Wittenberg. Here was a 
large field of labor open to him for instruction and preach- 
ing. A journey which he made to Rome in 1510 gave him 
an insight into the moral decay of the papacy. But he might 
have gone on to the end as a pious Catholic, opposing the 
corruptions of the Church without leaving it, and teaching 
the truth as he saw it in quiet, had not circumstances forced 
upon him a greater task. 

§ 7. Luther's ninety-five propositions flew over Germany, 
and soon over all Europe, " as if scattered by angels' hands." 
They were a word in season, a bold testimony against the 
desecration of all that is divine ; and noble minds every where 
welcomed them with delight. The hue and cry raised against 
them by Tetzel, by Wimpina in Frankfort, by Sylvester Pri- 
erias in Italy, and, above all, by Dr. Eck, of Ingolstadt, extend- 
ed, deepened, and defined the controversy. For Luther's fear- 



360 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

less spirit did not hesitate, though the fate of Huss confront- 
ed him, to take up their defiance and carry on the conflict. , 
" Here am I, Dr. Martin Luthei-, at Wittenberg," he cried, 
" and I dechxre to every arch-heretic, who tliinks of eating- 
iron and tearing rocks, that he will here find safe-conduct, 
open doors, protection and support, by the gracious approval 
of the noble Christian prince, Duke Frederick, Elector of 
Saxony." Thus he hurled his spiritual defiance at his adver- 
saries. 

§ 8. Pope Leo X. was a politic, contriving man, who inclined 
to consider the whole matter a mere monkish quai'rel. He 
summoned Luther to Rome. But through the mediation of 
the elector and the university, the business of hearing the 
case against Luther and obtaining his recantation was con- 
fided to the papal legate, Thomas de Vio, of Gaeta, known as 
Cardinal Caietanus, who was then in Germany, and summon- 
ed Luther to meet him at Augsburg in 1518. Luther jour- 
neyed thither as a pilgrim, humbly seeking shelter at the 
convents on the way. The cardinal ajipealed to the Church 
fathers, in defense of the indulgences, but Luther built his 
case on the Scriptures. After three vain discussions, the leg- 
ate directly and imperatively demanded that Luther should 
at once recant, or never come before him again. " I can not 
bear the sight of that German beast, with deep eyes and as- 
tonishing thoughts," he afterward declared. And Luther 
said of him, " This spiritual lord knows the Scriptures as an 
ass does the harp." Hearing that the cardinal meant to seize 
him and send him to Rome, Luther fled at night, passing out 
on horseback through a portal in the city wall, leaving be- 
hind him a w^ritten appeal " to the pope after he learns bet- 
ter," and returned to Wittenberg. But new difliculties and 
dangers sprang up. The legate demanded, in the name of 
the pope, that the elector should surrender Luther, or at 
least drive him from Saxony; and Frederick wavered. But 
worthy friends of both stood faithfully by Luther; among 
them young Philip Melanchthon (born at Bretten in the 
Palatinate in 1497), a light of German scholarship, who had 
recently been called to Wittenberg as professor of the Greek 
language and literature; also Carlstadt, Jonas, Spalatin, Je- 
rome Schurf, and others. The elector, too, was more and 



Chap. XV. CONFERENCE AT ALTENBURG. 361 

more impressed by Lutlier's earnest, evangelical piety, and 
he dreaded the injury which his university would sustain 
should its favorite teacher be driven away ; so that he grew 
more favorable to him every day. For Luther had already 
become the prophet of the German people. His fugitive 
writings were every where read with eagerness, no longer 
attacking merely the sale of indulgences, but constantly find- 
ing new and stirring themes for denunciation and instruction. 
The traveling merchant took them Avith him, and the student 
on his travels ; at the courts of princes, in the open market- 
place, and within the convent walls, they were the topic of 
discussion. The pope Avas eager to gain the good-will of the 
electors, in view of the approaching election of a successor 
to Ma.\:imilian. He therefore sent a wiser and gentler medi- 
ator than Caietanus had proved. Baron Miltitz, who summon- 
ed Luther to a new conference at Altenburg, January, 1519. 
Here he was compelled to confess that he would not venture 
to take Luther out of Germany with an army often thousand 
men ; for where he found one man for the pope, there were 
certainly ten for Luther. But he ingeniously implored the 
young reformer not to disturb the peace of the Church; and 
Luther, who was often dreading " lest the song he had struck 
up would get too high for him," agreed, for the sake of peace, 
that he would be silent if his adversaries would do the same. 
§ 9. The house of Hapsburg now stood at the head of Ger- 
many and of Europe. Charles L,the young King of Spain, 
grandson of the Emperor Maximilian, was heir to the ter- 
ritories of Burgundy, the united crowns of Spain and Naples, 
and the Austrian possessions in Germany, with a prospect of 
obtaining Bohemia and Hungarjr besides. Beyond the ocean, 
Columbus had discovered (1492) a new world, an immeasur- 
able region, rich in gold, and offering a wide prospect of 
profitable commerce and colonization ; all of which lay at 
the feet of the Hapsburgs. But one power in Europe could 
be regarded as their rival : France, under King Francis L, an 
ambitious man in the prime of life, who claimed part of the 
late possessions of Charles the Bold as a fief of France, and 
in Italy, too, in the Duchy of Milan, was resisting Spanish 
dominion. Besides France, the Hapsburgs had an enemy in 
the strange, barbarous Turks, who, since their conquest of 



362 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book I\\ 

Constantinople, threatened Hungary and Austria. Though 
they were regarded as the foes of Christianity, France had 
no scruple in forming alliances with them from time to time, 
during the next two centuries, against the supremacy of the 
Hapsburgs in Europe. Such was the position of the great 
monarchies when Luther came forward in Germany, and the 
great movement of the Reformation began. 

§ 10. Maximilian died January 12, 1519, and the imperial 
throne was vacant for five months. The electors were in 
deep anxiety upon the subject of the election. Charles I. of 
Spain was the representative of the house of Hapsburg, from 
which for nearly one hundred years the emperors had been 
selected ; but Francis I. of France also presented himself 
as a candidate, and endeavored to purchase the crown by 
heavy bribes to the electors. Both were foreigners, for even 
Charles could speak no German but the Dutch dialect, and his 
manners and culture bore in all respects a Romance stamp. 
Both were accustomed to absolute power and implicit obedi- 
ence. The proud Joachim I. of Brandenburg, one of the 
electors, strove to obtain the crown for himself Another of 
them, the gentle and far-sighted Frederick theWise of Saxony, 
was supported by a patriotic party, chiefly friends of the Ref- 
ormation ; but he felt too weak to maintain the position, and 
declined it. Finally, on June 28, the electors agreed upon 
Charles, and he was crowned at Aix, October 22, 1520, as 
Charles V. of Germany. 

§ 11. For the first time in many generations the imperial 
crown was on the head of the most powerful prince in Europe. 
But his power was of little advantage to the German people. 
The honor of the house of Hapsburg and its victories were 
not theirs. It had but one foot on German soil ; the other 
rested on its ov,-n foreign lands. These did not benefit the 
empire, as did the foreign possessions of the Franconian and 
Hohenstaufen emperors ; on the contrary, the empire too 
often was subordinated to the interests of their external 
possessions. At the time of his greatest power, Charles Y. 
was a master of the w^orld, but not a German emperor. 

§ 12. Charles was required by the electors, as a condition 
of his election, to accept certain stipulations to the prejudice 
of the imperial power, and similar " capitulations," as they 



Chap. XV. 



CAPITULATIONS OF CHARLES V. 



J63 




Charles V. (1520-1556). 

were called, were afterward imposed at the election of each 
of his successors. By this agreement he bound himself to 
protect and uphold the privileges of the states of the em- 
pire ; to involve the empire in no war or alliance without the 
advice and consent of the electors ; to lay no tax on the 
nobles ; and to permit the electors to form confederacies or 
leagues, but to prohibit the nobility and cities from doing 
so. These provisions complicated the constitution of the 
empire, and rendered its head more insignificant in power 
than ever. Under Maximilian, in 1500, a regency of the em- 
pire had been erected, consisting of twenty members, elec- 
tors, princes, and deputies of the imperial cities. It met at 
Nuremberg, and attempted to govern Germany as a senate, 



364 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

but in a rude and inefficient way. It was not able even to 
maintain the general peace unbroken. This was amply shown 
by the feud of Hildesheim, which was caused by a conflict 
of personal interests between members of the divided house 
of the Welfs, in which nearly all the lower dynasties of 
the region took part, so that, from 1519 to 1523, all Lower 
Saxony was wasted with war and pillage. Similar disor- 
ders occurred in Wirtemberg. The worthless Everard the 
younger succeeded the wise Everard with the beard, and 
was driven out. Then came the unbridled Ulric of Wir- 
temberg, still a minor (born 1487). His extravagance was a 
heavy burden to the nobles and the cities as well as to the 
peasantry. Under his rule a conspiracy of peasants was 
formed, which began with bitter jests — they called the league 
"Poor Conrad" of "No -home," with estates in "Plunger- 
mount" — but went on to fierce insurrection and plunder. 
The higher orders also revolted; and in 1514 Ulric was com- 
pelled to accept the convention of Tubingen, by which his 
power was limited. The peasants were then reduced to 
obedience with bloody severity. Soon after, Ulric quarreled 
with the Suabian league, no longer a confederacy of muni- 
cipal republics; but, as revived by the Emperor Frederick 
III., a union of cities and princes to maintain the public peace. 
The princes, and especially the Dukes of Bavaria, controlled 
it. The present duke's sister, Sabina, wife of Ulric, was 
abused and dismissed by Ulric, who also seduced the wife 
of Hans von Hutten, and then slew the husband Avith his 
own hand. Soon after this, he surprised and took possession 
of the free city of Reutlingen. All now turned against him. 
The emperor laid his ban upon him ; the powerful eloquence 
of Ulric von Hutten stimulated the knights of the empire 
against him, and the whole Suabian league took up arms. 
Thus Ulric of Wirtemberg lost his territory in 1519, and was 
never able to recover it permanently, though he made many 
efforts. The league then handed over the land to the emperor, 
who assigned it to his brother Ferdinand. Ulric himself 
had no home, and lived on the hospitality of other princes. 

§ 13. Among Luther's adversaries was Dr. Eck, of Ingol- 
stadt, who had counted on winning great honor by confuting 
Luther. The peace agreed on by the papal plenipotentiary 



Chap. XV. DISPUTATION AT LEIPSIC, 365 

(lid not serve his ends. He renewed the controversy, attack- 
ing Luther's friend Carlstadt (Dr. Bodenstein) in his writings, 
for doctrines which he and Luther held in common. Accord- 
ing to the usage of the times, it was proposed to hold a 
public " disputation" at Leipsic upon this subject. Luther 
justly considered that the attack on Carlstadt was aimed at 
him, and he was too brave to let others fight his battles. 
He could not disregard such fickle, crafty attacks, he de- 
clared, nor permit the truth to be thus exposed to scorn. 
The disputation was held at Leipsic, before Duke George of 
Saxony, in 1519, and lasted from June 27 to July 17. Here 
the giant Eck, with stentorian lungs, and a fox-like cunning 
in doubling upon his opponents, used all the weapons of the 
scholastics in defense of the doctrine of papal supremacy, 
which Carlstadt and Luther impugned. Luther, still slim 
in figure and with no advantages of presence, opposed him, 
strong only in his assurance of the truth. The issue was the 
same as in all word -fights: neither party "was convinced. 
But the controversy took a turn of the greatest significance 
for Luther's cause. Eck denounced certain assertions of 
Luther as " Hussite heresies ;" and he replied, " What Huss 
taught was not all false." "Do you mean," cried Eck, " that 
the Council of Constance erred in condemning him ?" " Yes," 
said Luther; "it erred, as any council may err, if it does 
not adhere to the Word of God." This declaration was so 
astounding, at that time, when the Church and its general 
councils were regarded as under the immediate control of 
the Holy Spirit, that Duke George sprang from his seat with 
his usual oath, " Plague take it." Luther's words had struck 
at the foundation of the papacy. 

§ 14. From this time Luther recognized neither Church 
nor fathers, tradition nor council, as binding upon faith. He 
acknowledged no infallible guide but the Scriptures, and 
adopted them as the standard by which to measure what 
was true or false in the doctrine and usages of the Cliurch. 
It seemed that the scales fell from his eyes, and he spoke out 
all that he discerned as true, in spirited and powerful words, 
before the whole German people, and before all Christendom, 
wherever he could find a hearing. In 1520 he published 
two works, one addressed " to the Christian noblemen of 



366 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

the German nation," on the reformation of Christian life ; 
and the other " on the Babylonish captivity of the Church." 
In the former he appealed to the active nobility of the em- 
pire, who were devoted to him, and whose most zealous lead- 
ers were Francis of Sickingen and Ulric of Hutten : he de- 
scribed the manner in which Rome had abused German pa- 
tience, and insisted with energy on the removal of the scan- 
dals which disgi-aced the Church. Every Christian, he de- 
clared, is a member of the spiritual calling — there is no differ- 
ence between the priests and the laity. In the latter work 
he attacks the doctrine of the seven sacraments, demands the 
cup for the laity, and, instead of forced rules of life and vows, 
insists on Christian freedom for all. These writings were 
like campaigns fought against Rome ; Luther's words set 
the minds of the German people on fire. Yet he once more 
permitted Miltitz to persuade him to treat the jDope with 
forbearance, and wrote a treatise on " the freedom of a 
Christian," in the loftiest style of conciliatory and Christian 
thought. He sent this to the pope, with a heroic dedication, 
setting forth that Leo was not responsible for the corruption 
of the Church : " Thou, holy Father, sittest like a sheep 
among wolves; like Daniel among the lions, and like Ezekiel 
among the scorpions, what canst thou do alone against so 
much that is monstrous? The see of Rome is not worthy of 
thee ; the spirit of evil ought to be pope, and he really 
reigns, rather than thou, in this Babylon." 

§ 15. But it was now too late for reconciliation. Eck did 
not rest until he obtained from Rome a bull of excommunica- 
tion, which he triumj^hantly circulated north of the Alps. 
In some of the Rhine towns Luther's books were publicly 
burned. His heart swelled with emotion; he no longer 
doubted that the pope was Antichrist ; and he led a proces- 
sion of teachers and students from Wittenberg out before 
the Elster gate, and solemnly burned the pope's bull, Decem- 
ber 10, 1520. This act symbolized the final division of the 
Church of Rome. Meanwhile, until a new emperor was chos- 
en in the place of Maximilian, Luther's friend, Frederick of 
Saxony, was the Regent of Lower Germany. This fact 
greatly aided Luther; for Frederick, though averse to impet- 
uous action, was a pious and enlightened jnan, and became 



Chap. XV. LUTHER'S JOURNEY TO WORMS. 367 

constantly more strongly attached to the reformer. But in 
October, 1520, the young King of Spain was crowned at Aix as 
Charles V., Emperor of Germany; and in January, 1521, he 
went up the Rhine to hold a great Diet at Worms, at which 
the affairs of the Church, as well as of the empire, were to 
be set in order, 

§ 16. The German empire here brought together all its an- 
cient sjilendor before the young emperor. Most of the elect- 
ors, and a vast assembly of prelates and nobles, were gath- 
ered. Two papal legates, Alexander and Caraccioli, came, 
with the demand that the excommunicated arch-heretic 
should be punished by the empire. But Frederick, Elector 
of Saxony, succeeded in obtaining for Luther a safe-conduct 
to the Diet, on the plea that German usage permitted no 
man to be condemned unheard. The imperial herald rode to 
Wittenberg to summon him. Many of his friends warned 
him of Huss's fate. But Luther went. He set out in his 
little wooden wagon, drawn by two farm-horses, with his 
brother and two other friends at his side ; while the herald 
rode before him in full armor, bearing the double eagle of the 
imperial house. From all sides throngs flocked to see the 
man of God and of the people. In Weimar he was warned 
that he was on his way to the scaffold; but he answered, 
"Though they kindle a fire between here and Worms that 
blazes to heaven, yet will I go, and strike Behemoth's great 
teeth." At Mora, a village near Eisenach, the ancient home 
of his family, he preached under the village linden-tree, be- 
cause no church could hold the crowd. He was taken sick, 
prayed, and recovered. Slowly he drew near to the fair 
Rhine, and to Worms, so famous in heroic song, but now 
awaiting a battle with a dragon other than that which the 
noble Siegfried of old fought wuthin its walls. Again a 
warning reached him, this time from the faithful and heroic 
Sickingen, who offered him his castle of Ebernburg, in the 
valley of the Nahe, as a safe place of refuge. But Luther 
answered, " If devils are as thick in Worms as the tiles on 
the roofs, yet will I go thither," At his entrance the whole 
people were stirred, and the streets filled with 

"Sounds, as if some great city were one voice 
Around a king returning from liis wars," 



368 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

§ 17. It seemed like a new youth for the German people, 
as if in this wonderful agitation a new and loftier soul had 
taken possession of them. The consciousness of a great crisis 
was not confined to any class or rank, to the knights or the 
clergy : the sovereign on the imjserial throne, the lowliest 
peasant at his plow, or the poorest bondsman that kept 
guard at the door — every man knew that what was now to 
happen deeply concerned him. The German people had for 
three hundred years been torn by strife, and the lower orders 
trodden mei'cilessly under foot ; but here was a new, enlarged 
life before them, to which not the outbursts of power in the 
great migration, or the fanaticism of the crusades, could be 
compared ; and now, with but " the great hero and miracle- 
worker" Luther wished for on the throne, and among the 
people before the throne a spiritual hero, and Germany might 
look for a new birth, which should put out of remembrance 
all its sorrows. 

§ 18. But this was not to be. On the throne sat a cold- 
blooded Spaniard, still a youth in years, but already a veter- 
an in calculating policy. He aimed at a Spanish empire of 
the world, at new conquests in Italy ; he must remain in 
harmony with the Catholic faith of Spain and with the pope. 
Nor was his soul capable of any sympathy with the inspira- 
tion and depth of the reformer's earnestness. He regarded 
the monk who was set before him in that princely assembly 
with thoughts like those of Cardinal Caietanus. "He shall 
not make a heretic of me," he said, as Luther appeared. 
Luther, dazzled for the moment by the sight of so much great- 
ness, was shy and embarrassed on the first day, and asked 
for time to answer the demand for his recantation. But on 
his second audience, April 18, 1521, after much time spent 
in discussion, it was imperatively demanded of him that he 
give a short, direct answer whether or not he would recant; 
and he replied, " Yes, I will give one without horns or teeth, 
and it is this: Let me be refuted by the testimony of the Scrijjt- 
ures, or by clear, plain reasoning. Otherwise, I am in my 
conscience the prisoner of God's Word, and I neither will nor 
can recant, because it is neither safe nor wise to do any thing 
against conscience. Here I stand, and can no otherwise. God 
help me. Amen." He had won many hearts, and not those 



Chap. XV. LUTHER UNDER THE BAN. 369 

of the common people alone. His elector was proud of him. 
The young, hasty, hot-blooded Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, 
paid him a visit the same day, and a duke of the house of 
Brunswick sent him a pitcher of Eimbeck beer for refresh- 
ment. Many members of the clerical party begged Charles 
to violate his safe-conduct, and destroy Luther at once. But 
the emperor, at twenty-one, had not yet lost all sense of gen- 
erosity and fidelity, under the superstitions and deceit which 
afterward seemed to make up his character, and he kept bis 
promise. It is sad to know that in his old age he sorrowed 
over this, one of the few acts of his life which can be sup- 
posed either to have sprung from an honorable motive or to 
have accomplished good for mankind. On the next day, 
April 19, the emperor called on the Diet to proclaim the ban 
of the empire upon Luther and his followers, still reserving 
his safe return to Wittenberg, On the 20th the Diet adopted 
the resolution ; although its members entered one hundred 
and one complaints of scandals in the Church, a sufficient 
proof that they perceived the necessity of a reformation. 
But on April 25 the ban Avas formally denounced, and twenty 
days were allowed for Luther's return. He set out for Wit- 
tenberg the next day. The Edict of Worms, the last act of 
the Diet, forbade any further propagation of the new doc- 
trines. Through the care of his friend, the Elector of Saxony, 
Luther was taken in charge by armed knights while passing- 
through the Thuringian forest, and escorted to the Wartburg 
at Eisenach. He lived here in concealment, under the name 
of "Knight George," for nearly a year; and amid, many ob- 
stacles and conflicts, both of body and soul, began his trans- 
lation of the Bible, his noblest gift to the people. Its sub- 
stance was a fountain of spiritual life, and its language was 
the beginning of a new era for German speech and thought. 
§ 19. The disappearance of Luther excited much inquiry 
and conjecture, but did not stop the spi-ead of his doctrines. 
On May 8, 1521, the emperor issued a decree at Worms pro- 
claiming the ban upon Luther as a heretic, and upon any one 
who should harbor him or propagate his doctrines; and for- 
bidding any pi-inter or other person to print any book upon 
theology without the approval of his V)ishop. Charles V,, 
like the pope, thought the movement for reform could be 

Bb 



370 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

crushed at once by the civil power. But he soon found that 
the most of the knights, and by far the majority of the com- 
mon people of Germany, were at heart with Luther. The 
agitation was general and intense ; and the sudden release 
of multitudes from their old beliefs and habits, without 
thorough instruction in something better, naturally led to 
much extravagance. 

While Luther was still at the Wartburg, there came from 
Zwickau to Wittenberg artisans, who not only, like Luther, 
claimed the right of private interpretation of the Scriptures, 
but professed a sort of prophetic illumination of their own, 
rejected the baptism of infants, and tried to introduce a com- 
munity of goods, and a kingdom of God on earth, consisting 
of the regenerate alone. Melanchthon wavered, declaring that 
Luther alone could discern whether the spirits of the new 
prophets were good or evil; and Carlstadt joined them. 
They were soon discontented with the slow and careful proc- 
ess of abolishing ancient forms, as it was practiced in the 
church at Wittenberg ; they wished suddenly and violently 
to do away with such "heathenish horrors" as mass, priestly 
garments, pictures, and statues in the churches, and every 
thing which brought to mind the Catholic service. The fa- 
natical destruction which followed threatened to bring the 
worst passions into the reform movement. Luther opposed 
all violence. "The Word made heaven and earth, and all 
things therein," he declared ; " the Word must do the work, 
not we poor sinners." 

§ 20. On hearing of the outbreak at Wittenberg, Luther 
resolved to meet it in person. The elector sought to detain 
him ; but Luther in reply wrote him a letter on the way, so 
heroic and illustrative at so many points of his own charac- 
ter that it must be given almost in full: 

"Most illustrious and noble Elector, most gracious Lord, the letter of your 
Electoral Grace, with its condescending advice, reached me Friday evening, 
when I had determined to start on Sunday morning. That the intention of 
your Electoral Grace is the best in the world needs no proof or confirmation 
with me, for I am entirely convinced of it. But in this affi^ir of mine, most 
gracious Lord, my answer is this : Your Electoral Grace is aware — or, if not, 
I beg you now to be assured — that I have the Gospel, not from man, but from 
heaven alone, through Jesus Christ our Lord ; so that I might have boasted 
and written of myself as a servant and evangelist, and will do so from this 



Chap. XV. LUTHER'S LETTER TO THE ELECTOR. 371 

time. But the reason why I submitted to a hearing and trial [i.e., at 
Worms] is, not that I had any doubt of the truth, but, out of excessive humil- 
ity, to win others. I have yielded enough to your P^iectoral Grace in that I 
have stayed away from my place this whole year at your bidding. For the 
devil knows well enough that this was not out of fear. He saw my heart 
when I drew near Worms ; for if I had known that as many devils lay in 
wait for me as there are tiles on the roofs, I would still have leaped in among 
them with joy. 

"Now Duke George is not a whit like even one single devil. And since 
the Father of unfathomable mercy has by his Gospel made us happy masters 
over all devils and over death, your Electoral Grace can reckon that it would 
be a great indignity to such a Father if we did not trust him to make us 
masters also over Duke George's wrath. As for me, I know (your Electoral 
Grace will pardon my silly speeches) I would ride into his Leipsic if for nine 
days it rained nothing but Duke Georges, every one of them nine times as 
furious as this one. He takes my Lord Christ for a man of straw ; but my 
Lord and I can bear that for a while. * * * 

"I write this to your Electoral Grace in the belief that you know I am go- 
ing to Wittenberg under a far higher protectorate than the elector's. I have 
no thought of so much as asking protection from your Grace. Indeed, I 
think I am in a position to give more protection to your Grace than you can 
to me. If I knew that your Grace could and would protiect me, I would not 
go. In this business no sword can counsel or help ; God must help in this 
work alone, without human aid. In this case, therefore, he whose faith is 
strongest can protect best. 

"Suspecting as I do that your Electoral Grace is still weak in faith, 1 can 
in no way regard you as the man who could protect or save me. 

"Since your Grace asks what you shall do in this matter, believing that 
you have done far too little, I reply submissively, your Grace has already 
done too much, and has nothing at all to do. For God will not and can not 
bear your busy care nor mine. He will have it left to himself, and to no 
other. Let that direct the judgment of your Grace. 

"If your Electoral Grace believe this, you will have security and peace: 
if not, yet I believe, and I must leave your Grace's unbelief to torture itself 
in the anxieties which all unbelievers justly suffer. And since I will not be 
guided by your Grace, you are without blame before God if I be taken or 
killed. Before men, your Grace must act in this wise : as an Elector, you 
must be obedient to the higher powers, and let the imperial sovereignty rule 
in the cities and lands of the empire, without refusal or resistance if that 
power seize and kill me. For no man but he who set up the power shall put 
it down, or it is rebellion and against God. But I hope you M'ill exercise 
reason, and consider that your Electoral Grace was too nobly born j'ourself to 
become my jailer. If your Grace hold the door open, and give the enemv 
free way, if they should come to take me, your Grace will have done enough 
for obedience. They can ask no more of your Grace than the knowledge that 
Luther is sojourning in your Grace's l.tnd, and this they shall have without 
any trouble on your Grace's pai-t ; for Christ has not taught me to be a Chris- 



372 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 



tian to another's harm. But if they should be so unreasonable as to com- 
mand your Grace to lay hands on me yourself, I will tell you what is to be 
done : 1 will assure your Grace against harm and danger, in body, estate, and 
soul, on my account, whether your Grace believe this or not. 

"I commend your Electoral Grace to the grace of God. If your Grace 
would believe, you should see the glory of God. It is because you believe 
not that you have seen nothing. Written at Borna, Ash-Wednesday, a. n. 
1522. Y'our Grace's most humble servant, Martin Luther." 

§ 21. In the strength of Luther's conviction that he had 
more power to protect Frederick than the elector had to pro- 
tect him, he rode into Wittenberg, met the storm, and sub- 
dued it, Easter-day, March 5, 1522. 

But the fanatical ferments in South Germany were more 
dangerous. The organization of the empire was as much 
disfigured by abuses as that of the Church, and a political 
reformation was as obviously necessary as any other. Charles 
V. desired to break the pride of the nobles and to strengthen 
the sovereign power in Germany, as well as in Spain and the 
Netherlands. The government of the empire was modified 
at the Diet of Worms, so as to increase the emperor's in- 
fiuence. Besides the emperor, the princes found another en- 
emy to their local ascendency in the knights of the empire, 
whose independence was endangered by it. These knights 
were especially strong in Suabia and Franconia. Francis of 
Sickingen and Sylvester of Schauraberg were their most 
prominent leaders. They had eagerly accepted the teach- 
ings of Luther, who addressed one of his important treatises 
to them. Ulric von Hutten, an adventurous and impulsive 
man, who now engaged in battles with the pen as vigorously 
as the knights of old with the sword, supported Luther ear- 
nestly, mocking and ridiculing his opponents. "I have dared," 
was the motto with which he approached every fierce contro- 
versy. Sickingen conceived a plan for a general overthrow 
of the power of the princes, and especially of the prelates, and 
even aimed at a revolution which should restore the political 
unity of the empire. When he thought that his time had 
come, he led mercenary soldiers to attack the Archbishop of 
Treves iri his capital. He could not capture that beautiful 
city, but was repulsed with loss; and in his own castle, the 
Landstuhl, in the Palatinate, was soon after besieged by 



Chap. XV. DISCONTENT OF THE PEASANTS. 373 

the archbishop, together with the Elector of the Palatinate 
and the Landgrave of Hesse. Their heavy guns soon broke 
down his walls, twenty feet thick; and a ball from one 
of them sent a splinter from the palisading into his body. 
The brave man was in the agonies of death when the vic- 
torious princes forced their way in and saluted him with re- 
spect. He dragged his suffering body to Switzerland, and 
died on the island of Ufnau, in Zurich, in August of the same 
year, 1523; and with him perished those far-reaching plans 
of the knights. All these attempts to carry the Reformation 
into politics, and to reconstitute the empire in its interests, 
were opposed by Luther, to the amazement and sorrow of 
his warrior friends, who had looked for his cordial support. 
Luther was so engrossed in the spiritual life of the people, 
and in the purification of the Church, that he undervalued 
their national and political life ; and he persisted in pressing 
to an extreme the Christian duty of obedience to rulers, al- 
though none was bolder than he in denouncing the personal 
folly and wickedness of princes. 

§ 22. Nor were wild plans of change confined to the nobles ; 
but "the poor folk," and especially the peasants of South Ger- 
many, Avere busied with them. Terrible had been the fate 
of these people in the wild days of the fourteenth and fif- 
teenth centuries. The times were now more peaceful, and 
the peasants less needy and wretched. In South Germany 
they were influenced by the example of the Swiss, whose free- 
dom and comfort seemed constantly to show them what they 
also might attain. Besides, many of their young people 
went out into the world as soldiers every year; they assist- 
ed in the emperor's victories in Italy, and took delight in 
booty and in the freedom of a wild life while it lasted; and 
on their return brought back to their villages no longer the 
yielding, slavish mind of a servant, but the proud feelings of 
a warrior. Several secret conspiracies had been formed 
among the South German peasants before the Reformation 
began. And when Luther preached Gospel freedom for all, 
they were seized with an earnest longing to improve their ex- 
ternal condition also. 

§ 23. At the beginning of the year 1525 there was a rising 
of the peasants in Suabia and Franconia. They assembled 



374 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

in armed bands, but still behaved with moderation. At this 
time Ulric of Wirtemberg again invaded his country with 
six thousand Swiss soldiers, but could not hold it. The peas- 
ants grew steadily in strength. New hosts of them gather- 
ed at the Odenwald and in the valley of the Neckar. Then 
the revolt extended up the Main, and west of the Rhine, 
also into Alsace and Lorraine, until the entire peasantry of 
South Germany were engaged in it. They formed many ar- 
mies, or armed mobs, led usually by men of their own class, 
or by ex-priests. The smaller cities were favorable to their 
cause. The agitation pervaded the lower classes throughout 
Bavaria, as far as Salzburg, and into the Tyrol and Styria. 
The demands of the peasants were at first moderate and 
just ; and even Luther advised the princes and barons, for 
the sake of peace, to accept the twelve articles they proposed. 
But in the arrogance brought by their first successes, they 
went further: their boldest leaders conceived the notion of 
reconstituting the whole empire. They would have an em- 
peror at the head of it, but no princes, knights, prelates, 
castles, or convents. To do away with these was what they 
called administering the Gospel. 

§ 24. These undisciplined hosts soon began to lose all re- 
straint, and practiced inhuman cruelties. They seized the 
Count of Helfenstein, at Weinsberg, with many other nobles, 
and drove them along a path between two files of spears, 
which pierced them till they fell. They burned and plunder- 
ed the monasteries and castles of Suabia and Franconia. 
They took Heilbronn, and chose it for the capital of their 
new empire. The Franconian peasants compelled Gotz of 
Berlichingen of the L-on Hand, a knight of the empire, to 
march at their head ; but he could keep no order among 
them. The most frightful disorders threatened the empire. 
Then at last the princes, cities, and barons united, and the 
general of the Suabian league, the steward of Waldburg, de- 
feated the disorderly throngs, first in the Allgau, and then in 
the Hegau, dispersing them after trifling resistance. He 
then defeated the Neckar army ; while their strongest band, 
that of the united Franconian and Burgundian peasants, was 
almost annihilated by him, with the aid of the Electors of the 
Palatinate and of Treves. The vengeance of the princely 



Chap. XV. FANATICISM OF MUNZER. 375 

and noble conquerors almost obliterated the remembrance 
of the peasants' previous cruelties. 

§ 25. At the same time Thuringia was agitated in the same 
way, save that here the instigation and guidance of the re- 
volt were mainly the work of one desperate man. This was 
Thomas Miiuzer, a scholar, who, after traveling in search of 
adventure, had devoted himself to the Reformation, but, like 
Carlstadt, had fallen into the extravagances which deformed 
it, Luther was not decided enough for him. lie preached 
loudly and fiercely against "Dr. Liar, the senseless, luxurious 
flesh of Wittenberg." He announced a new order of things, 
both spiritual and temporal: all ranks and fortunes should 
be equalized, and only prophetic inspiration should hold the 
sceptre. Such preaching carried away the mercurial throng. 
He established himself first in AUstedt, in Thuringia, and 
then in Miihlhausen, whence he expelled the magistrates; 
and here he undertook to set up his heavenly Jerusalem on 
earth. The peasants from the Hartz forest to the Thuringian 
joined him. The ruins of the monasteries burned by him at 
the foot of each of these forest ranges of hills (Paulinzelle 
and Walkenried) indicate the extent of the destruction he 
caused. But the princes now united against him without 
distinction of religious views. Philip of Hesse, a friend of 
the Reformation, and Henry of Brunswick and George of Sax- 
ony, its bitter enemies, brought their cavalry against Mtin- 
zer's peasants, who had built a barricade of wagons near 
Frankenhausen, May 25, 1525, Miinzer strained his most ex- 
travagant powers of oratory, brandishing " the sword of Gid- 
eon," and pointing to the rainboAV as a pledge of victory, to 
inspire his followers with confidence, but in vain. The mob 
army was easily dispersed by the princes, and 5000 out of 
their whole body of 9000 were left dead on the field. Miin- 
zer himself was taken, and afterward tortured and sent to 
the gallows. From that time civil order was restored in Ger- 
many; but the peasantry had rather injured than improved 
their condition. Duke George of Saxony followed up his vic- 
tory by cruelly persecuting the Lutherans in his dominions. 
The conduct of the sect of Anabaptists at Miinster, in 1534, 
under John of Leyden, was another painful outbreak of fa- 
natical passions and aims. 



376 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

§ 26. Meanwhile the progress of the reformed doctrines, 
especially in the great cities, was more rapid than ever. On 
December 1, 1521, Pope Leo X. died; his successor, Adrian 
VI., a German, was full of zeal against the abuses of the 
Church, and sent a legate to the Diet at Nuremberg, in 1523, 
empowered, while- demanding the resolute suppression of Lu- 
ther's teachings, to acknowledge that the corruptions of the 
Church had originated with its head at Rome, and to promise 
a thorough reform, Luther himself mocked at any reforma- 
tion of which the pope could be the head; and the states of 
the empire embodied their complaints against the papacy in 
a long series of propositions, and demanded that a general 
council of the Church be called to meet in one of the German 
cities. Meanwhile the Diet determined to tolerate the new 
iaith, and Luther's doctrines were preached at Nuremberg, 
during the sessions of the Diet, without opposition. In nearly- 
all the large cities, and throughout a great part of Silesia, 
Mecklenburg, and Prussia, the people embraced the Protest- 
ant teaching in throngs. Pope Adrian VL died September 
14, 1523, and his successor, Clement VIL, a nephew of Leo 
X., at once attacked the reformers with all the resources of 
bigotry. Another Diet was held at Nuremberg in 1524, in 
which the pope, by his legate. Cardinal Campeggio, implored 
the suppression of the Protestants ; but he Avas coldly re- 
ceived, and could obtain no answer but a renewed demand 
for a general council. The spirit of the nation was already 
one of inquiry, and even the most zealous of the Catholic 
princes saw that an attempt to extinguish the new doctrines 
by violence would end in destroying its authors. Later, in 
1524, Campeggio brought together at Regensburg the Duke 
of Bavaria, Ferdinand of Austria, and several South German 
bishops, who formed a league to exclude Luther's followers 
from their territories. On the other hand, the Lutheran lead- 
ers met at Dessau, and afterward at Gotha, where John of 
Saxony and Philip of Hesse pledged themselves to protect 
the truth. At Torgau, in May, 1526, a reformed league was 
constituted, and was rapidly joined by Luneburg, Anhalt, 
Magdeburg, and Prussia. At the Diet of Spires, in June of 
that year, this league was able to secure the passage of an 
edict, that "In respect of religion, every one shall act as he 



Chap. XV. AN EDICT OF TOLERATION. 377 

will venture to answer for it before God and the emperor." 
This was justly regarded as a decision in favor of toleration. 
The emperor wished the Diet to enforce the Edict of Worms, 
laying the ban on Luther and his followers, but the Diet de- 
manded that a general council of the Church be summoned 
within a year to consider the question. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE FORMATION OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES, AND THE 
RELIGIOUS WARS OF CHARLES V. 

§ 1. Luther and the Rebellious Peasants. § 2. German Princes Espouse the 
Reformed Cause. § 3. It is Favored by the Political Situation. § 4. Vic- 
tories of Charles V. § 5. The Diet of Augsburg, 1530. § 6. The Smal- 
caldic League and the Peace of Nuremberg. § 7. Growth of the League. 
§ 8. Rapid Progress of Protestantism. § 9. Eftbrts for Reconciliation ; 
the Diet of Regensburg. § 10. Luther's Marriage and Labors. § 11. His 
Last Years and Death. § 12. Charles V. in the Netherlands ; the Peace 
of Crespy. § 13. The Council of Trent ; Disunion of the Protestants. 
§ 14. Maurice Invades the Saxon Electorate. § 15. General Submis- 
sion to Charles V. § 16. Battle of Lochau ; Defeat of John Frederick. 
§ 17. Maurice made Elector; the Augsburg Interim. § 18. The Emperor's 
Enemies in Germany. § 19. Maurice Turns against Him. § 20. The 
Religious Peace of Augsburg. § 21. Death of Maurice; Abdication 
of Charles V. § 22. Reformation in Switzerland. § 23. The Geneva 
Reformers ; John Calvin. § 24. Dissensions among the Reformers. 

§ 1. Long before the outbreak of the peasants' war, Luther 
rebuked and resisted the fanaticisms which were preparing 
the way for it ; and soon after the atrocities of the insurgents 
began, he wrote a pamphlet against " the phindering and mur- 
derous peasants," declaring that they must be treated like 
mad dogs, and exterminated by eveiy means. He thus care- 
fully drew the line between his work and revolution, between 
reformation and destruction. But from this time he moder- 
rated his style of preaching, and aimed at the establishment 
of an evangelical Church. He was assisted by individual 
noblemen, who took part in the Reformation, and guided it 
toward its goal, though less triumphantly than was at first 
expected. The noble Electors of Saxony were foremost in 
this work. Frederick the Wise gave free course to the 
Reformation which had begun in his own capital and uni- 
versity-city. " The kindly and peaceful prince," as Luther 
calls him, died May 5, 152.5, in the reformed faith. 

§ 2. He was succeeded by his brother, John the Constant, 



Chap. XVI. CHUECH PROPERTY SECULARIZED. 379 

who was entirely devoted to the Reformation (1525-1532). 
During his reign a Saxon national Church was constituted, 
under Luther's advice. Luther wrote his Larger and Smaller 
Catechisms in 1529, for the instruction of the young. Evan- 
gelical churches gradually grew up in several principalities, 
where the powers of the episcopal sees passed into the hands 
of the ruling princes. Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, entered 
zealously into the cause of the Reformation. Albert of Bran- 
denburg, the grandmaster of the German order, was among the 
first princes who embraced it, and upon the introduction of 
the reformed faith he made of the possessions of the order 
an hereditary duchy of Prussia, which he received and held 
as a fief of Poland. He thus set the example of a successful 
secularization — that is, of the transformation of a spiritual 
jurisdiction, obtained by election or appointment, into a 
personal and hereditary principality — an example which 
tempted many an archbishoj^ and bishop to imitate it. 

§ 3. For it was not always a heartfelt conviction of truth 
that attracted lords and barons to the Reformation. The 
rich lands of the Church were every where confiscated, and 
were by no means always employed for the pui-poses of 
churches and schools. They often went into the bottomless 
treasuries of extravagant courts. But while the Reforma- 
tion, like every great historical movement, was mingled with 
much that was imperfect and wrong, yet a fresh and pious 
impulse was given to the popular mind wherever it took root ; 
better schools, a more serious moral tone, a reverential spirit, 
and a zeal for the truth every where followed it. The Ref- 
ormation advanced rapidly in Northern Germany. The con- 
dition of the empire was favorable to its spread. The emper- 
or had left Germany soon after the Diet at Worms, in order 
to oppose Francis L in Italy. Until 1525, the empire was 
governed in his name by the awkwardly constituted imperial 
council, which could not efficiently reach the several German 
countries. After 1525 the emperor's brother, Ferdinand of 
Austria, had more influence in the government of the empire. 
Ferdinand became King of Hungary and Bohemia in 1526, 
and the Turks threatened his hereditary land of Austria, and 
encroached upon it. In 1529 they appeared, for the first 
time, before Vienna. The house of Austria was in danger, 



380 HllSTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

and needed help from the emph-e ; and while asking for this, 
it was necessary not to make enemies of the reformers. 

§ 4. Thus, for several years after the Diet at Worms, the 
Lutheran doctrines spread rapidly, without serious opposition 
on the part of the emperor (Chap. XV., § 26). But the situa- 
tion in this respect was soon changed. The Emperor Charles 
V. defeated King Francis and took him prisoner, in the battle 
of Pavia, in 1525. The next year, at Madrid, Francis signed a 
humiliating treaty of peace, and was released. He immedi- 
ately formed an alliance with the pope, who was in dread of 
Charles's ascendency in Italy, and the war was renewed. In 
1527, an imperial army, mostly of German Lutherans, was 
sent to Rome, under the Constable de Bourbon, and though 
he was slain in the assault, they captured the city (May 6), and 
laid siege to the pope in the Castle of St. Angelo. Before the 
eyes of Clement VII., the German soldiers mocked the papal 
processions and ceremonies, and shouted to him in scorn that 
Luther should now be pope. Francis I. was again compelled 
to abandon the contest, and signed the Peace of Cambray in 
1529. On February 24, 1530, the anniversary of his birth 
and of the victory at Pavia, Charles V. was crowned by the 
pope at Bologna with the crown of the Caesars. He now had 
time to give attention to Germany. The mere prospect of 
his coming gave the Catholic party, which had been quietly 
preparing and gathering its strength, courage to act with 
more boldness. A Diet met again at Spires in 1529, and re- 
solved to carry out the Edict of Worms and check.the Refor- 
mation. Nineteen of the states of the empire, with Saxony 
and Hesse at their head, protested against this resolve, and 
insisted that a mere majority could not decide questions of 
faith so as to bind all (April 19, 1529). This protest gave the 
reformers the name of Protestants. 

§ 5. The emperor summoned a Diet to meet at Augsburg 
in 1530. It was a more splendid assembly than even that at 
Worms nine years before. Luther's friend, the Prince Elect- 
or of Saxony, and his theological associates, of whom Melanch- 
thon was the most prominent, attended it ; but Luther him- 
self, being still under the ban of the empire, remained at Co- 
burg, where, at this time of peril, he wrote his famous hymn, 
" Our God is a strong fortress " {Ein feste Burg ist icnser 



Chap. XVI. THE DIET OF AUGSBURG. 381 

Gott). There were many Protestant princes at the Diet, and 
their disiDOsition soon found open expression. At the entrance 
of the papal legate, giving his blessing, many a head remain- 
ed covered, and many a knee unbent ; and the Protestants 
refused to take part in the procession on Corpus Christi dav, 
although the emperor attended it in person. George, Mar- 
grave of Anspach, declared that he would sooner lose his head 
than join it. "My worthy princes, no heads off, no heads 
off," answered the cautious emperor, mildly, in his Low-Dutch. 
On the 25th of June the Protestants presented their Confes- 
sion of Faith, drawn up by Melanchthon. This was the fa- 
mous Augsburg Confession ( Confessio Aiigustana), which has 
ever since been regarded as a corner-stone of Protestantism. 
It was expressed in Melanchthon's peculiar style, clear and 
moderate, and explained exactly in what respects it coincided 
with the Catholic faith, and in what it deviated from it. The 
emperor employed Eck to prepare a refutation {confutatio) 
of it, which was presented to the Diet August 3 ; and though 
Melanchthon offered a rejoinder (cvpologict)^ the emperor de- 
clared the case closed, and commanded the defeated Protest- 
ants to return to the Catholic Church. Many of the Protest- 
ant princes left the Diet before its adjournment ; among them 
Philip of Hesse, who had long been prepared for war. This 
step seriously alarmed the Catholic party, and they prevailed 
on Charles to attempt a reconciliation. Many efforts were 
made for this purpose, in which Melanchthon took an active 
part, representing the Protestants ; and he conceded so much 
as to offend the majority of them. But it was in vain ; on 
the merits of works and the invocation of saints, no form of 
words could be devised which both parties would accept. 
The Catholic majority then resolved that all religious inno- 
vations should be suppressed by force, and Charles dismissed 
the Diet with threats of the severest measures. Judicial 
processes were instituted against several Protestant princes, 
for the secularization of Church estates. Thus the breach 
grew steadily wider. Luther himself never believed a " rec- 
onciliation of contraries" to be possible, and insisted on un- 
restricted freedom of conscience for all. 

§ 6. The chiefs of the Protestant party assembled in De- 
cember at Smalcald, in Thurinoia, to counsel together for 



382 HISTORY OF GEKMANY. Book IV. 

tlieiv defense ; and on March 29, 1531, they formed there " the 
Sraalcaldic League," which was to last six years, and was 
joined by a large number of princes and of cities. The em- 
peror was again called out of Germany by the affairs of Spain ; 
but first caused his brother Ferdinand to be elected " King 
of the Romans," or German Emperor, by the Catholic electors 
at Cologne, January 5, 1531. This was done in spite of the 
earnest protest of the Elector of Saxony, and the opposition 
of the Duke of Bavaria, who was jealous of the growing pow- 
er of the house of Austria. Thus the opponents of Protest- 
antism were at issue among themselves. The Protestants at 
once took advantage of the duke's disaffection toward the 
imperial family, and signed an alliance with him, October 24, 
1531, which was soon after joined by France and Denmark. 
Just at this time the Turks made a fierce attack upon both 
Austria and Italy. Charles V. therefore gladly acceded to 
an accommodation, through the mediation of Frederick, Elect- 
or of the Palatinate, and before civil war actually broke out 
the Religious Peace of Nuremberg was signed, July 23, 1532. 
Both parties pledged themselves to await the decision of a 
general council of the Church upon their differences of faith. 
But the armistice extended to the Lutherans alone, the short- 
sighted Protestant leaders consenting that the followers of 
Zwingli should be excluded from it. 

§ 7. From this time, for more than ten years, the reformers 
enjoyed a fruitful and steady period of growth. In 1534 
Wirtemberg was added to the reformed counti'ies. Ulric, 
the banished duke, had fled to Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, 
and he, supplied w^ith money by France, defeated the Arch- 
duke Ferdinand of Austria in May, 1534, at Laufen, and com- 
pelled him, in the Peace of Cadau, June 29, to restore Ulric 
his possessions. During his long absence the people's affec- 
tions returned to their hereditary duke, and he repaid them 
by introducing the Reformation. He paid the expenses of 
the war out of the confiscated estates of the Church, and 
joined the Smalcaldic league. 

In 1535, Joachim I., Elector of Brandenburg (son of John 
Cicero) died, having been to the last a bitter foe of Luther 
and the Reformation. His sons divided the land, and the 
younger, John of Kiistrin, at once introduced the reformed 



I 



Chap. XVI. POLITICAL STRENGTH OF THE REFORMERS. 383 

faith and practice into his territories of Neumark, Kottbus, 
and Reitz. The elder brother, Joachim II. (1535-1571), hes- 
itated until 1539, when he also adopted the Reformation. 
Thus the reformers now had two electorates. On April 24, 
1539, old George of Saxony, the father-in-law of Joachim II., 
also died. He, too, had been a violent opponent of Luther ; 
but his brother Henry (1539-1541), who succeeded him, at 
once reformed the Church in his land, including the impor- 
tant cities of Leipsic and Dresden, In 1536 Pomerania also 
joined the league ; and Anhalt, Nassau, the Upper Palatinate, 
and other territories, soon followed. 

§ 8, In 1537 the Smalcaldic league was again renewed for 
six years. Saxony and Hesse were at its head, and the pious 
elector John Frederick had ruled in Saxony from the year 
1532. Nearly all the Protestant princes now belonged to 
the league. The Bavarian princes, with the Archbishops of 
Mayence and Salzburg, in vain formed a Catholic league 
against it. The Reformation and the Smalcaldic league 
were continually strengthened by new accessions. Even the 
Elector of Mayence gave the Reformation free course in the 
lands belonging to his see, in Magdeburg and in Halle, on 
condition that the feudal tenants would pay his debts. Duke 
William of Cleves, Jtilich, and Berg also began to reform the 
Church ; and even Herman, Elector of Cologne, invited Me- 
lanchthon to come to him, permitted evangelical preaching, 
and endeavored to secularize and to reform his archbishopric. 
Henry the Younger, Duke of Brunswick, now an old man, 
still offered a fierce resistance to the Smalcaldians in North 
Germany. An extremely bitter controversy was carried on 
first in print, Luther himself taking part in it; and then 
Henry attacked the free reformed cities of Brunswick and 
Goslar. But the leaders of the league, John Frederick of 
Saxony and Philip of Hesse, fell upon him in 1542, expelled 
him from his country, the Reformation having already taken 
root there, and in 1546, when he attempted to return, defeat- 
ed him again, and took him prisoner. Even Frederick, the 
new king of the Romans, seemed to grow less unfriendly to 
the reforming cause. Bavaria was the only part of the em- 
pire in which the secular government steadfastly upheld the 
papal supremacy. 



384 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

§ 9. Pope Clement YII. died September 25, 1534, and was 
succeeded by Paul III, a shrewd man, who appreciated the 
importance of the Lutheran movement, and the impossibility 
of suppressing it by violence. He undertook to reunite the 
Church by policy. He at once announced his willingness to 
accede to Charles's wish, and call a general council ; and he 
soon opened negotiations with the Protestants in Germany. 
Many listened hopefully to his promises ; but Luther never 
doubted that the pope's conciliatory attitude was a pretense, 
designed to divide the reformers, or to throw upon them the 
blame of the inevitable conflict. After much time spent in 
preparation and discussion, the emperor evidently wishing to 
postpone any decisive step, it was agreed that a conference 
should be held by representatives of both parties, to strive to 
reconcile them. Cardinal Contarini, a learned and upright 
prelate, who had heard Luther at the Diet of Worms, and 
had since been earnest in advocating reform in the Church, 
was sent to Germany as the pope's legate and plenipotentiaiy. 
In April, 1541, the conference began at the Diet of Regens- 
burg, in the presence of the emperor — his first appearance in 
Germany for nine years. Contarini was assisted by John 
Eck, Pflug, and Gropper, while the Protestants were repre- 
sented by Melanchthon, Bucer, and Pistor. To the astonish- 
ment of the reformers, the Catholic delegates, under Conta- 
rini's influence, accepted, as fundamental articles of faith, the 
enslavement of the will by original sin, the redemption of 
man by Christ, and justification by faith alone, and not by 
works. For a time sincere hopes were entertained of a rec- 
onciliation, but it was soon found that no agreement was 
possible on the subjects of the sacraments and the authority 
of the Church ; and that neither the pope nor the prelates of 
Germany would acquiesce in the large concessions made to 
Protestant doctrine. On May 31, Charles V. expressed his 
delight with the agreement, as far as made ; earnestly ex- 
horted the conferees to labor for a complete union, and added 
his earnest desire for a reformation of the Church. A num- 
ber of evangelical princes besought Luther to give his power- 
ful influence to the cause of reconciliation ; but Luther was 
finally convinced that the papacy could iiot be sincere in its 
new professions, and made a moderate and indecisive apswer, 



Chap. XVI. LATER YEARS OF LUTHER. 385 

only in order not to seem to provoke strife. The conference 
ended in a violent controversy, and in dissolving the Diet, 
June 29, the emperor proclaimed his old policy of referring 
all differences to a future general council; and meanwhile 
suppressing neither faith, but carrying on the legal processes, 
already begun in the Imperial Chamber of Justice, against 
Protestants who had " secularized" Church property. 

§ 10. Luther had long been more inclined to build up than 
to destroy, and while working for the people as the great 
teacher and founder of the Protestant Church, his personal 
labors were mainly confined to his own immediate field at 
Wittenberg. Among his strongest convictions was that of 
the sanctity of the marriage tie, the divine institution of the 
family, and the fatal error of the monastic theories. He 
urged his friends to marry ; but up to the age of forty-two 
showed no disposition to obey his own precepts. About the 
year 1523, a number of nuns fled from their solitary life, per- 
suaded of its unnatural character ; but were rejected by 
their own families, and came to Luther for aid and guidance. 
He found them temporary homes, and sought husbands for 
those who were young and deserving. Among these was 
Catharine von Bora, of a noble family in Meissen, In her 
Luther took a deep interest, and he made repeated efibrts to 
secure her hand for one or another of his friends. But after 
two failures, on inquiring carefully into the reasons, he learned 
that Catharine could not entertain the thought of marrying 
any one, unless it were the Wittenberg preacher, Nicholas 
of Amsdorf, or the great Dr. Luther himself Luther did not 
hesitate an hour, but went with the painter, Cranach, to Cath- 
arine, plighted her his troth, and at once invited his friends 
to their wedding feast (June 13). It was nearly the darkest 
hour, to outward seeming, of his life-work : the Reforma- 
tion was regarded by many as an assured failure ; but Lu- 
ther never doubted the final triumph of the truth, and re- 
solved, by holding the main festival of his life in these dark 
days, to defy his enemies and cheer his friends. Besides, he 
had entered a cloister against his father's will, and thus de- 
prived his father of a son for many years ; and it would be a 
sort of peace-offering, he said, to leave behind, when he died, 
a grandson to the old household. There had long been a 

Cc 



386 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

rumor that Luther was warmly disposed toward the fugitive 
nun. " I am not in love," he wrote, " nor governed by pas- 
sion; but I am fond of her." The union, on the whole, 
contributed much to his happiness. He had three sons, 
and a full share of both the joys and the sorrows of family 
life. 

§ 11. In Luther's household and among his friends he was 
ever cheerful and full of jest, and his lively conversation was 
full, now of profound wisdom, and again of childlike merri- 
ment. But in public he was the spiritual counselor and 
friend of princes near and far, or the terrible censor of im- 
morality and abuses in the Church, whose wrath was like 
that of the prophet Elijah. He saw his work spread beyond 
the boundaries of Germany. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway 
adopted the new faith, and it found its martyrs in the Neth- 
erlands, France, and England. Yet his heart was often de- 
pressed with anxiety and apprehension. He saw that the 
good cause could not be kept entirely pure, as he had hoped ; 
that the desires of avarice for the wealth of the Church and 
other unholy impulses often had as much eflect as zeal for 
truth ; he saw that the morals of the people, who were de- 
voted to pleasure and display, were not radically purified by 
the Gospel. Besides these sorrows, his own frail body con- 
tributed to depress his spirits. Yet his mind rose above all 
trials to an assurance of triumph ; and his pride and humili- 
ty both found expression in his confident declaration that he 
was " a chosen instrument of God, well known in heaven, 
earth, and hell." His j^ersonal power was so great that the 
path once decidedly chosen by him was pursued by his 
Church in unquestioning obedience. Luther's excessive la- 
bors exhausted his vital powers, and before his sixtieth year 
his strength began rapidly to fail, with signs of premature 
old age. His cheerfulness was lost, and his vehemence in 
controversy, especially against the Calvinistic notion of the 
Eucharist, was greater than ever. Circumstances now as- 
sumed more and more the aspect of an approaching deadly 
strife with arms between his followers and the pope's. As 
long as it was possible, Luther insisted on peace, and even on 
complete submission to the emperor, as far as it might be 
rendered without forfeiting the faith. He wished, at least, 



Chap. XVI. THE CKOOKED POLICY OF CHARLES V. 387 

not to survive a religious war. This wish was fulfilled. He 
was summoned to Eisleben by the Count of Mansfeld, for- 
merly the feudal lord of his family, to arbitrate upon a dis- 
puted inheritance. There he was taken sick and died, in the 
night of February 18, 1546, in his sixty-third year, during 
his last sufierings trusting joyfully in the truth he had taught. 
The funeral procession to Wittenberg was a march of mourn- 
ing for the whole people. They all felt that the dead had no 
fellow in history for Uie loftiness of his spirit, the energy of 
his character, and his vast influence on the future of German 
civilization. Yet his widow was compelled to earn her own 
bread during the religious war which followed, and died in 
poverty at Torgau, December 27, 1552. 

§ 12. After the unsuccessful conference at Regensburg, 
Charles V. went to Italy, and in the same year (1541) under- 
took an expedition against the Algei'ine pirates, but accom- 
plished nothing. In 1542 Francis I. declared war against 
him for the fifth time. Duke William of Cleves also, hoping 
to secure the duchy of Guelders in spite of Charles, who had 
annexed it to the Netherlands, took part with Francis. At 
the same time the emperor was uneasy lest the Reformation, 
which had been adopted in Cleves, and introduced in Cologne, 
should overrun his own provinces, the Netherlands, which he 
wished to retain in the Catholic Church, and to keep entirely 
separate from Germany. Accordingly, in 1543, he came from 
the Netherlands into Germany, put a stop to the work of the 
reformers in Cologne, and visited the land of Cleves with all 
the terrors of desolation his Spanish troops could inflict. 
Duke William was comijelled to submit, abandon all claims 
on Guelders, and to renounce the Reformation. He then 
married Maria of Austria, Charles's niece and Ferdinand's 
daughter. Toward the other Protestants, Charles still acted 
with caution. The next year he treated them so kindly at 
the Diet of Spires that he induced even the Smalcaldians to 
join him in the war against France. With the whole force 
of the empire, and in alliance with Henry VIII. of England, 
he approached Paris, and pressed hard upon Francis I., until 
that king accepted the Peace of Crespy in 1544. Now for the 
first time Charles had his hands free in Germany ; and his plan 
was soon disclosed — to break down the independence of the 



388 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

nobles of the empire, as he had in his youth subdued those 
of Spain. 

§ 13. On the other hand, the Protestant princes were not 
united among themselves ; and some of them, as the Electors 
of Brandenburg and of the Palatinate, were not in the Smal- 
caldic league. The Council of Trent was finally opened in 
December, 1545. At the imperial Diet at Regensburg in 
1546, Ferdinand, who represented the emperor, insisted that 
both parties should submit their differences to the General 
Council of Trent, and abide by its decision. " The Catholics 
eagerly agreed to this ; but the reformers observed that the 
council was in session beyond the limits of the empire, and 
that its proceedings began with hostility to the Protestants. 
Hesse and Saxony refused to be bound by it. The emperor 
now made an alliance with the pope, who promised him 
money and soldiers, began to collect troops for himself, and 
laid the ban of the empire on the two leaders of the Smalcal- 
dic league. Then the cities of Upper Germany collected an 
army, under the prudent and resolute Sebastian Schertlin ; 
and the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse did 
the same. But the most powerful princes around them, such 
as the Elector of the Palatinate, Joachim of Brandenburg, 
his brother John, and the Dukes of Mecklenburg and Pom- 
erania, avoided war, and made haste to seek a reconcilia- 
tion with the emperor. It would still have been easy to de- 
feat in detail the detachments of imperial troops, who were 
slowly coming from Italy and the Netherlands, if Schertlin's 
spirited advice to attack them at once had been followed; 
but the two princes either disagreed or were checked by 
scruples of conscience. They had forty-seven thousand men 
and formidable artillery. Yet they lay idly before Landshut 
and Ingolstadt until autumn, when the emperor had con- 
centrated his forces. An unexjjected event then sura^moned 
the Elector of Saxony home. 

§ 14. The Protestants now found their worst foe among 
themselves. Young Maurice, Duke of Saxony, an ambitious, 
shrewd, and far-seeing prince, succeeded his father Henry in 
the Saxon territories of the Albertine line in 1541. Luther 
is said to have forewarned the elector against the young 
lion he might see sitting at his own table. Maurice had 



Chap. XVI. RAPID SUCCESSES OF CHARLES V. 389 

long ago quarreled with his cousin John Frederick, and 
abandoned the Smalcaldic league. He fought with distinc- 
tion under Charles V. against both the French and the Turks, 
and was now in secret correspondence with the emperor, 
with whom he concluded a treaty of alliance in June, 1546. 
He then, in Novembei", suddenly made an inroad into the 
Saxon electorate, and before the end of December took pos- 
session of nearly the whole country. Through fear of him, 
the elector had conducted the war against Charles without 
vigor or close attention ; and now that his fears were con- 
firmed, he hastened back to recover his own territories. At 
his parting from the Landgrave of Hesse, each of these Prot- 
estant leaders bitterly reproached the other for their joint 
failure. 

§ 15. The princes and cities of Upper Gerraanyj whether 
they had been openly hostile to the emperor or guardedly 
neutral, now hastened to purchase a reconciliation with him, 
though by great sacrifices. In January, 1547, Ulric of Wir- 
teraberg fell at Charles's feet, accepted his commands, and 
paid him the costs of the war ; Frederick of the Palatinate 
then implored forgiveness with tears; in February and March 
all the cities submitted, and abandoned the Smalcaldic 
league ; Augsburg dismissed from its service Schertlin, the 
emperor's persistent enemy, and paid Charles 150,000 florins 
as an " indemnity." All South Germany again belonged 
unconditionally to the emperor. Hermann, the late Arch- 
bishop of Cologne, who had been excommunicated and de- 
posed by the pope, was driven from the city in January, 
•1547, and the attempted reformation there came to an end. 

§ 16. Meanwhile John Frederick reconquered his country, 
and brought Maurice himself into severe straits, as the spring 
of 1547 opened. But before the elector suspected his ap- 
proach, Charles V. and his army were on the Bohemian fron- 
tier, and invaded Saxony. Charles marched up the left bank 
of the Elbe ; every means of crossing seemed to have been 
destroyed. Maurice of Saxony was with him; and the Duke 
of Alba, who was afterward so famously cruel in the Nether- 
lands, was his lieutenant. The elector was on the right bank, 
near Mtihlberg, and thought himself secured by the river 
against any sudden attack. On the evening of April 23, a 



390 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

miller, whose horses the Saxon soldiers had taken from him, 
came to the emperor, and oifered to show him a ford practi- 
cable for cavalry. On the evening of the 24th, the river was 
covered by a fog. Spanish soldiers swam across in the early 
twilight, with swords in their teeth, and brought back boats 
to carry over the infantry. The emperor led the cavalry 
across by the ford. It was Sunday; John Frederick was at 
church, and left only to meet his army in flight. The battle 
was but a chase across the heaths of Lochau. The elector 
was so heavy that he had to climb to the saddle with steps. 
He was overtaken, and though he defended himself valiantly, 
was cut with a sabre across the face, and taken prisoner. 
When he came before the emperor and attempted to kiss his 
hand, Charles withdrew it, and addressed him harshly. He 
took him to Wittenberg, which he besieged. But the capi- 
tal city of Protestantism was valiantly defended by Sibylla, 
the elector's wife, a lady of the house of Cleves. John Fred- 
erick refused to order a capitulation, and Charles caused him 
to be sentenced to death for high-treason. The elector re- 
ceived the sentence with composure, and showed himself .as 
great and venerable in suffering as he had been slow and ir- 
resolute in action. 

§ 17. At length the land and the capital city submitted. 
Luther's preaching had not awakened a warlike dispo- 
sition in the people, though it had strengthened their pa- 
tience in endurance, as the elector's own example showed. 
Yet Charles V. now showed himself wise and moderate, if 
not magnanimous. Some of his attendants urged him to dis- 
turb Luther's grave, but he replied that he warred with the 
living, not the dead. Nor did he even suppress the Luther- 
an form of worship. John Frederick ceded his electorate, 
with Wittenberg, to Maurice, upon whom the emperor soon 
after conferred the electoral dignity also. The elder line re- 
tained only their possessions in Thuringia. The imperial 
troops quickly reduced all North Germany to subjection. 
Magdeburg alone still held out. Philip of Hesse lost heart 
entirely, and negotiated for terms of submission. Maurice of 
Saxony, his son-in-law, and Joachim H. of Brandenburg, guar- 
anteed him a gracious reception by the emperor. At Halle, 
Philip threw himself at Charles's feet, but still in such excel- 



Chap. XVI. THE AUGSBURG INTERIM OF 1548. 391 

lent spirits that the emperor is said to have cried out, " Well, 
I'll teach you to laugh !" The same evening Alba demanded 
his sword. In vain Joachim flew into a passion, and Maurice 
appealed to the emperor's written promises. Charles led the 
two princes as prisoners about with him through the empire, 
but treated Philip, whom he sent into confinement at Mech- 
lin, more severely than John Frederick, whom he learned 
to respect, and kept at court. The Council of Trent, after 
a short sitting, separated ; and the emperor's urgent requests 
that it might be called together again were set at naught by 
the pope. Charles therefore caused several divines to draw 
up "The Augsburg Interim" of 1548, a system of religious 
doctrine and practice, to be carried out until a free general 
council should meet ; and secured the approval of it by the 
Diet at Augsburg. It preserved the peculiarities of Romish 
doctrine, yielding hardly any thing to the Protestants but 
the sacrament in both kinds, and the marriage of the clergy. 
But Charles promised the Protestants to reform the order of 
the Church in Germany. His policy is easy to understand, 
since his supreme aim was to fortify his own power ; and he 
took the most supei-ficial view of the Reformation, having no 
conception of any genuine meaning in it beyond opposition 
to external abuses. All earnest Protestants were, of course, 
dissatisfied with the Interim; while the pope and the zealous 
Catholics could not approve any concession whatever. The 
plan was, however, enforced with great severity, especially in 
Upper Germany ; and hundreds of the pious clergy preferred, 
with their wives and children, to sink to utter destitution, 
rather than deny their fiiith. In North Germany, Bremen 
and Magdeburg defended themselves by arms, and the latter 
city became a place of refuge for all who were persecuted for 
the Protestant faith. The emperor laid the ban on the city, 
and intrusted its execution to Maurice and Joachim II. 

§ 18, Charles V. now seemed to have established in Ger- 
many that absolute sovereignty which he aimed at in all the 
countries he ruled. The German princes could see how weak 
was the foundation of that independence which they had re- 
garded as so precious, and that, having no union among them- 
selves, they were liable to be subjugated by any superior pow- 
er that might boldly attack them. But the restoration of 



392 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

the imperial authority was not a benefit to the nation. For 
Charles V. really brought to the land a foreign sovereignty, 
a Spanish throne. He filled it with barbarous troops, who 
scorned German law and customs, and, above all, trod down 
the Reformation before the emperor's own eyes ; first in the 
cities of South Germany, as in Augsburg. In view of this 
danger, the independent spirit of the German princes was a 
great good, and the more so that many of them were really 
imbued with the truth of the Gospel. Many of the German 
princely thrones were then occupied by men of noble charac- 
ter and true piety. Such was Ernest of Luneburg. Such, a 
little later, was Julius of Brunswick (son of Henry the Young- 
er), founder of the University of Helrastedt (1576). Such, 
too, were Wolfgang of Anhalt, and Christopher of Wirtem- 
berg (son of Ulric); while Maximilian, afterward Emperor of 
Germany, son of King Ferdinand, manifested while young a 
high moral character, and a strong inclination to the reformed 
faith. The people also were full of an orderly spirit and of 
religious zeal. The papal influence, like the Spanish, was ev- 
ery where resisted by them. The emperor now brought for- 
ward his plan of securing the succession of the empire to his 
son Philip, and of making the crown hereditary in his family. 
This alienated from him his brother Ferdinand. 

§ 19, But the hopes of Germany centred in Maurice of 
Saxony. He was not pious, but he was attached to Protest- 
antism, and sufiered from the reproach of having betrayed 
his faith. He even modified the Interim in his territories, 
with the help of Melanchthon,and established for Saxony "the 
Leipsic Interim," which retained the doctrines of Luther, while 
admitting in the churches various rites and practices which 
the reformers had rejected. The neglect by Charles V. of 
Maurice's pledged word to the Landgrave of Hesse, his fa- 
ther-in-law, and the severe confinement of that prince, gave 
Maurice further ofiense. Above all, the ascendency of the 
Spanish statesmen, Alva and Granvella — to whom the princes 
of Germany were made subordinate — excited his anger; and 
he felt bound to defend the independence of the princes. In 
this work he had resort to the emperor's own arts of cun- 
ning and pretense ; and the scholar surpassed his mastei*. 
He postponed for a long time the execution of the ban upon 



Chap. XVI. THE RELIGIOUS PEACE OF AUGSBURG. 393 

Magdeburg, and when his plans were ripe, he gathered around 
that city a considerable array without arousing the emper- 
or's suspicion. At the same time a new war broke out be- 
tween Charles V. and King Henry II. of France ; and Mau- 
rice acting in harmony with France, French money and artful 
negotiation quickly formed a confederacy against Charles, 
It was joined by a son of Philip the Magnanimous, William 
of Hesse, a Duke of Mecklenburg, and the princes of the 
house of Brandenburg. In recompense for the aid to be giv- 
en by the King of France, these princes agreed that he should 
have the cities on his frontier in which the French language 
was spoken, namely, Cambray, Metz,Toul, and Verdun. Thus 
it was by the treason of German princes that France began 
her encroachments on the western frontier of the empire. 

§ 20. All his preparations having been made with wonder- 
ful foresight and secrecy, Maurice suddenly marched against 
the emperor in March, 1552. He was now joined by Albert 
Alcibiades of Brandenburg (Culmbach), a famous warrior, 
and a leader among the wild and warlike adventurers of 
Germany. They hastened through Germany, and found the 
Tyrol unprotected. After taking the castle of Ehrenberg by 
assault, they reached luusbriick only a few hours too late to 
capture Charles V. himself, who was sick with the gout, and 
had to be carried on a litter in his hurried flight over the Alps. 
It was even said that Charles would have been a prisoner, 
but that Maurice allowed him to escape, " having no cage," 
he said, "for so large a bird." The emperor was compelled 
to yield. His brother Ferdinand, who had secretly favored 
the plans of Maurice, in order that he and his children might 
not lose the succession to the empire, soon after negotiated the 
truce of Passau, 1552, under which fighting was suspended, 
the imprisoned princes were released, and religious toleration 
promised by Ferdinand to the Protestants. Charles, indeed, 
proudly refused to accept such conditions, but he could no 
longer enforce his will, and at a Diet three years later, Sep- 
tember 25, 1555, the Religious Peace of Augsburg was signed. 
This assured to the princes and barons religious freedom, and 
the right to promote the Reformation in their own territo- 
ries. Subjects who would not accede to the religion of their 
lords must be pertnitted to emigrate. Church estates were 



394 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

not to be secularized ; ecclesiastical princes were required to 
tolerate the Protestant worship ; and if a prelate should adopt 
the reformed faith, he must give up his clerical dignities. 
This last provision was the contrivance of Ferdinand of Aus- 
tria, and was known as the " ecclesiastical reservation." All 
the barons, whether Catholic or Protestant (that is, in har- 
mony with the Augsburg Confession), were to be equal in 
privileges. The followers of Zwingli and Calvin were still 
subject to all the rigor of the laws against heretics, and re- 
mained so for nearly a century afterward. 

§ 21. The former companion in arms of Maurice, Albert 
Alcibiades, after the truce of Passau, marched with a host 
of mercenaries, carrying fire and sword through Germany, 
At first he claimed to be an ally of France, but when Charles 
V. made his unsuccessful attempt to recapture Metz, he 
again took the side of the emperor. At length his practice 
of plunder aroused almost all the princes against him. Mau- 
rice of Saxony allied himself with Henry the Younger of 
Brunswick, whose lands Albert had ravaged. At Sieverhau- 
sen, near Hanover, a bloody battle was fought, July 9, 1553, 
in which two sons of Henry were slain, Maurice himself re- 
ceived a fatal wound in the moment of victory. He died in 
the thirty-second year of his age, and the sixth of his elec- 
torate, and his great plans died with him. His brother 
Augustus succeeded him, and the electors of Saxony long 
continued to take the lead in North German Protestantism. 
Charles V., too, retired from the scene of public life, after 
giving to his son Philip the Netherlands, which he had al- 
most entirely severed from the empire. In 1542, in the same 
manner, he had taken out of the German imperial union the 
duchy of Lorraine, then ruled by a favorite princely house. 
Thus the frontiers of the empire were crumbling oiF from it, 
amid these internal agitations, through the fault of the em- 
peror and the princes. In 1556, Charles V, abdicated the im- 
perial throne, which now passed to his brother Ferdinand 
(1556-1564). He betook himself to the monastery of St. 
Juste, in Spain, where he died in 1558. 

§ 22. Although Switzerland was politically separated from 
the empire, yet that part of it in which the German language 
was spoken remained closely connected with Germany in 



Chap. XVI. KEFOEMATION IN SWITZERLAND. 



395 




Ferdiuaud I. (1556-1564). 

its intellectual life. Thus a reformation took place there 
almost at the same time with that in North Germany, mainly 
from an independent impulse. Ulric Zwingli, born January 
1, 1484, was a pious, cheerful, clear-headed man, well edu- 
cated in the classical tongues. Before Luther's public career 
began, he preached in several pulpits in Btisle and Glarus 
against abuses in the Church, and especially against the 
Swiss practice of going to foreign lands to seek employ- 
ment as mercenaries, making a trade of war. When invited 
to a celebrated resort for pilgrims, he denounced the whole 
system of pilgrimages, indulgences, and masses for the dead. 
Made preacher at Ziirich in 1519, he brought out the leading 



396 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

principles of the German Reformation, but went beyond 
Luther in rejecting the actual and miraculous presence of 
the slain body of Christ in the sacramental bread and wine. 
It was this difference which kept the Swiss reformer fiiom 
fellowship with the German Protestants, in spite of the effort 
of Philip of Hesse to bring about a union ; Luther insisting 
so strongly on his belief that he rejected Zwingli's offer of 
the hand of brotherhood at Marburg in 1529. For the same 
reason the Swiss were not admitted to the Smalcaldic 
league, so that the division between Germany and Switzer- 
land continued, in spite of their common Protestantism. Zu- 
rich was followed in the Reformation by Basle, Glarus, Ap- 
penzell, Schaffhausen, and other cities and counties. The new 
doctrine soon became the prevailing one ; and only the 
original cantons of Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden, Zug, and Lu- 
zerne adhered to the ancient Church. At first there was con- 
stant irritation between the two parties ; then came a breach 
of the constitution of the league. The Protestant cities for- 
bade all imports into the mountains. Driven by want, the 
people of the forest cantons came forth in arms, and a battle 
was fought at Kappel on October 12, 1531. The Protestants, 
who had been taken by surprise, were defeated, and Zwingli, 
who as chaplain carried the banner of Ziiricb, was slain. A 
progressive separation took place between the Protestant 
and the Catholic cantons in Switzerland, and the same little 
"forest states" which had won everlasting honor by their 
heroic and successful war for civil liberty were now the res- 
olute champions of religious superstition and slavery. 

§ 23. The neighboring cities of Upper Germany in general, 
such as Lindau, Constance, and Strasburg, accepted the 
Swiss doctrine. This form of the Reformation obtained a 
great influence through the doctrinal development it received 
in Geneva. This was a Romance city of the former king- 
dom of Burgundy, and had been under the influence of Sa- 
voy. It took up the Reformation as soon as it, in league 
with Berne and Freiburg, achieved independence. John 
Calvin (1509-1564) was a Frenchman, born at Noyon, in 
Picardy, July 10, 1509, and educated in law and theology in 
the French universities, mainly at Paris. He was designed 
for the priesthood, and received a benefice for his support 



Chap. XVI. LUTHERANISM AND CALVINISM. 397 

when only twelve years of age. While still very young, about 
the year 1532, he became acquainted with the writings of 
the German reformers; and he embraced the Gospel with 
zeal, and speedily framed a wonderfully logical system of 
reformed theology, which appeared in a complete form in his 
"Institutes" in 1536. On the question of the sacrament, he 
approached the Lutheran doctrine, but deviated widely from 
it in other points of importance, such as the unconditional 
grace of God to the elect. For this faith he was persecuted, 
and driven from his native country. After traveling without a 
fixed purpose on the Rhine and in Italy, the enthusiasm of his 
adherents in Geneva provided him a permanent home there 
(1534). His severe and sometimes dark and pitiless character, 
with its firmness and sacred seriousness of purpose, and his 
doctrines, which fully expressed this character, laid the founda- 
tions of a new reformed Church, which was called Calvin- 
istic (or Reformed), in distinction from the Lutheran. Most 
of the Swiss soou adopted Calvin's theology. In France it 
ibund numerous adherents — the so-called Huguenots. This 
doctrine spread in the Rhine districts, and became the pre- 
dominant one in the Palatinate (after 1569), and then in 
Bremen, Hesse-Cassel, and Anhalt. The Netherlands adopt- 
ed it, after they had thrown oft' the Spanish sovereignty of 
Philip II. John Knox introduced the most rigid form of 
Calvinism into Scotland during the reign of Queen Mary 
Stuart ; and even the Church of England was greatly in- 
fluenced by Calvin, if not in its government, at -least in its 
doctrines. 

§ 24. The original distinction between Calvinism and Lu- 
theranism was important. The Church constitution devised 
by each had its own marked character. The Church of Cal- 
vin elected its own presbyters or elders, and they elected the 
clergy. Thus a sort of republican spirit of independence was-''^ 
fostered in these churches, and had its influence in Germany 
wherever they spread. Their habits of thought sought exam- 
ples in the Old Testament history, and they thus cultivated a 
spirit of heroic firmness and iron defiance, like that of Israel 
in the ancient days. They were always ready fon battle and 1 
quick to draw the sword, while the Lutherans were, in compar- y 
ison, a patient and enduring people. The latter gained more/ 



398 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

influence among the Germans, the former in the Romance 
nations. But between the sister churches there arose an 
unchristian hatred, and it embittered the last days of Me- 
lanchthon (died April 19, 1560), who in vain strove to restore 
harmony. The tendency to look for the essence of Protest- 
antism in dogma grew steadily ; and the more it became clear 
that no formula could be devised which would satisfy all 
minds — though Luther had proclaimed the right of independ- 
ent inquiry and private judgment in interpreting Scripture 
— the more disputes about doctrine were multiplied. Denun- 
ciations of heresy, excommunications, persecutions, and ban- 
ishments became common. To such miserable disputes the 
splendid inspiration of the Reformation gave place, and the 
unwortiiy weapons of its foes were seized by its own cham- 
pions, and turned against one another. 



CHAPTER XVir. 

FEOM THE RELIGIOUS PEACE OF AUGSBURG TO THE EDICT 
OF RESTITUTION, 1555-1629. 

§ 1. The Reaction against the Reformation. § 2. Phihp II. of Spain and the 
House of Hapsburg. § 3. The Revolt* of the Netherlands. § 4. The Pol- 
icy of England. § 5. The Condition of Germany. § 6. The Emjierors 
Ferdinand I. and Maximilian II. § 7. Rudolph II. ; his War with Mat- 
thias. § 8. The Elector of Cologne Deposed ; ' ' the Grumbach Affair. ' 
§ 9. Hostilities in South Germany; "the League" and "the Union.' 
§ 10. The Succession in Cleves and JiiUch. § 11. The Duchy Divided 
§ 12. Matthias Emperor. Disorders in Bohemia. § 13. The Thirty-Years 
War Begins. Death of Matthias. § 14. Ferdinand II. Succeeds Him 
Revolt of Bohemia Suppressed. § 15. The Bohemian Protestants Crushed 
§ 16. Ferdinand Deposes the Elector Palatine. § 17. Foreign Troops and 
Mercenaries Desolate Germany. § 18. The War in Westphalia and Sax- 
ony. § 1 9. Wallenstein and Tilly. § 20. Death of Ernest of Mansfeld. 
§ 21. Wallenstein Checked at Stralsund. § 22. The Edict of Restitution. 
§ 23. Fall of Wallenstein. 

§ 1. The progress of the Reformation continued without a 
serious check until the middle of the sixteenth century. But 
the first great outburst of zeal for a pure Gospel gradually 
spent its strength, and now the reserve power of conservatism 
and of established institutions showed itself anew. In the 
general Council of Trent, which met in 1545, and continued 
its sessions at intervals for eighteen years, the Catholic Church 
defined its doctrines with sharpness, and drew the lines close- 
ly between itself and all branches of reformers. The popes, 
some of them men of marked ability in state-craft, used all the 
resources of the Church to regain for it what the religious 
revival had taken away. The Inquisition was revived with 
enlarged powers, and was set at work throughout Southern 
Europe, inflicting tortures and death on all whom Rome 
called heretics. In 1540, Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard, found- 
ed the Society of Jesus, whose original object was to con- 
vert the heathen ; but the society was soon devoted to resist- 
ing the Reformation. By founding schools, endowing chairs 



400 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

in the universities, and skillluUy occupying the confessionals 
of princes, the Jesuits soon acquired an enormous influence 
among all classes. They took firm root in Germany ; first 
of all at the Bavarian University of Ingolstiidt ; and then 
began a persistent and insidious struggle against the spread 
of the Reform doctrines. 

§ 2. The great leader in this struggle, as in every other 
against freedom in thought and life, was Philip II. of Spain 
(1556-1598), the son of Charles V., a gloomy and despotic 
prince, who succeeded his father in the Netherlands, Italy, 
and Spain. His life was a constant warfare against whatever 
he regarded as heresy. It concerns Germany but remotely ; 
yet all Europe, after the Reformation, became so compacted 
in all its interests and movements, that no member of the 
whole body could sufler without affecting the rest. The con- 
flict was no longer for the sovereignty or power of individual 
states, but for the religious and political freedom of the whole 
people. These blessings were at stake. The Austro-Spanish 
monarchy of the house of Hapsburg, which had been growing 
up ibr a century, was endeavoring to destroy them, and only 
by its defeat could light and law hold the field. 

§ 3. Germany was torn to pieces by its political and relig- 
ious dissensions, and no longer took a leading part in the 
conflict. It had given rise to the great spiritual movement, 
but could not support nor protect it. The people of the Neth- 
erlands were the first to struggle against Philip II. Germany 
looked on in inaction, and thus lost the last opportunity of 
reuniting with the nation this important member of the old 
empire, its most obvious and natural avenue to ocean com- 
merce. The Netherlands, which were still a part of the circle 
of Burgundy in the empire, revolted against the oppressions 
of Philip II. They contended for the rights which had been 
assured to their ancestors, for religious freedom, and even for 
their own prosperity, which Spanish taxation threatened to 
destroy. In 1568 their champions, Egmont and Horn, fell on 
the scaffold, under the tyranny of Alva. At the same time 
one of the most bloody persecutions in history was instituted. 
Some of the forms of law were retained by the Inquisition, 
but these were of no avail, when it was made a capital offense 
to petition for the removal of the Spanish troops, to accuse 



Chap. XVII. REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS. 401 

the bloody tribunal of cruelty, to pity its victims, or to ques- 
tion the right of Pliilip II. to abolish the ancient constitution 
and privileges of the country. P]ighteen thousand murders 
by " the Holy Office " failed to break the spirit of the people, 
and under the bold, silent, and thoughtful William of Orange, 
the son of a German prince, they continued their struggle for 
liberty; in 1579 founded their national union, and in 1581 
declared their entire independence of the Spanish crown. 
When hard pressed by Pliilip's generals, they repeatedly 
turned to the emperor and to Germany for lielp. Failing to 
obtain it, they appealed to foreign powers, at the same time 
struggling manfully for themselves. But this rich province 
on the coast, with its harl)ors and trading cities, inclosing 
the mouths of the most important river of Gei-many, was lost 
to the nation. 

§ 4, England,underher great queen, Elizabeth (1558-1603), 
now assumed the work of protecting the freedom of Europe 
from Spanish oppression, and the Reformation from Catholic 
supremacy. She took the freedom of the Netherlands under 
her protection, and the "Invincible Armada" of Philip II. 
went to pieces on her coast. Thenceforth England and the 
Netherlands became the rulers of the sea, and even in the 
Northern Ocean and the Baltic the trade and influence of Ger- 
many declined before them. Afterward the wise and enter- 
])rising Henry IV. of France (1589-1610) joined Elizabeth in 
resisting Spanish ascendency, and Philip II. was ruined by 
their combined power. His land was exhausted, his treasury 
bankrupt, and in 1598, when he died, the future of Sjtaiii 
seemed already hopeless. 

§ 5. In Germany, the great conflict which agitated all 
Europe was repeated on a smaller scale. The Catholic states, 
including Austria, Bavaria, and the territories of the prelates, 
took sides Avith Spain. The Protestant states were divided 
into two factions. The Lutheran Electors of Brandenburg 
and Saxony supported the empire and the house of Ilaps- 
burg. But the Calvinists were more vigorous, far-seeing, 
and resolute. At the head of their princes stood the Electors 
of the Palatinate (of Bavarian origin), and next them the 
descendants of Philip the Magnanimous, Landgraves of Hesse- 
Cassel. They formed the real opposition to the Catholic and 

Dd 



402 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

Austrian influence. But both parties were too weak for in- 
dependent action, and relied upon foreigners. From the time 
when Charles V. summoned Spanish and papal assistance, the 
Protestants followed the example of Maurice of Saxony, and 
sought alliances with France, England, and the Netherlands. 
Individual adventurers and ofiicers among them took part 
in the wars in the Netherlands and in France. But they 
every where appeared merely as the instruments of others, 
while foreigners controlled the issue. And the time soon 
came when foreigners were to fight out the great conflict on 
German soil, to the lasting injury of the people. 

§ 6. When Maurice of Saxony defeated Charles V., the 
plans of the Spanish monarchy for the consolidation of its 
power in Germany were broken down ; the supremacy of the 
princes in their own territories was re-established and relig- 
ious freedom restored. The branch of the German Hapsburgs 
which succeeded Charles V. in their German possessions, and 
in Bohemia and Hungary, held itself, after the accession of 
Ferdinand, aloof from the Spanish branch. Ferdinand I. 
(1556-1564), Charles V.'s successor, was personally an ear- 
nest Catholic. But as he grew old, and had long disputes 
with the pope about his coronation, he sought to bring about 
in his own territories a sort of reconciliation between the 
Catholics and the Protestants. His reign had no important 
eflect upon German history. In Austria, he divided his he- 
reditary possessions among his three sons, thus founding two 
collateral branches of the house, one in the Tyrol and one in 
Styria. Maximilian II., who succeeded him in the empire 
and in Austria (1564-1576), was a noble and gentle prince, 
who was known to be so favorable to the Reformation that 
his open accession to it was expected at his father's death. 
This expectation was not fulfilled, but neither in the empire 
nor in Austria did he resist its progress. When the massacre 
of St. Bartholomew took place (August 24, 1572), by which 
the French court under Charles IX., Maximilian's son-in-law, 
attempted to annihilate the Huguenots at one blow, the em- 
peror loudly expressed his horror : "Would to God," he cried, 
" that my daughter's husband had asked my advice. I should 
have advised him faithfully as a father, so that he would 
never have done this deed." He secured to his Austrian 



Chap. XV 11. GROWTH OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. 



403 




Maximilian II. (1564-15T6). 



subjects their religious freedom, and they nearly all adopted 
the Augsburg Confession. Even Vienna was then almost en- 
tirely Lutheran. But he failed to do the same service to 
Germany at large. The ascendency of Philip II., the immi- 
nent danger from the Turks, the dissensions in Germany and 
among the Protestants themselves, and perhaps his own hope 
of succeeding to the splendid inheritance of the Spanish 
throne, since Philip's son, Don Carlos, was dead, and to the 
now vacant throne of Poland, were all obstacles in the way 
of such a policy. 

§ 7. But when Maximilian died, he was succeeded by his 
son Rudolph II. (1576-1612), who had been educated by the 
Spanish Jesuits. The policy of Spain and of Austria was 



404 HISTORY OF GERMANY. - Book IV. 

now the same — to destroy Protestantism. Rudolph himself 
was weak in understanding and in will, and his inclinations 
were to his stables, or to the study of alchemy and astrology, 
rather than to the business of the state. He paid no respect 
to his father's guarantee of religious freedom in his own terri- 
tories, and his course led to revolts in Siebenbtirgen and in 
Hungary, which again drew the Turks into the country. 
Amid this confusion, his brother Matthias called together in 
council the princes of the house of Austria, and they deter- 
mined to confide the government to Matthias, " because his 
imperial majesty has at various times betrayed his incapac- 
ity of mind," as they declared (1606). Matthias then by 
armed force compelled his brother to cede to him the sover- 
eignty of Hungary, Austria, and Moravia. In this conflict 
his principal support had been the Protestant nobles, so that 
he could not withhold from them their religious freedom. 
The Protestants of Bohemia, the only country Avhich Rudolph 
letained, now demanded the same privilege. He was there- 
fore, in May, 1609, forced to grant to them, by letters patent, 
the full privileges of their several ranks, and in particular the 
freedom of religion. 

§ 8. During Rudolph's reign there was a reaction against 
Protestantism in the empire, and the ducal house of Bavaria 
took the lead in a war against it, which proved disastrous to 
the reformers. Ernest of Bavaria, a prince of the same 
house, already Bishop of Freisingen, and afterward also of 
Liittich, was made Archbishop of Cologne in 1583, after 
Gerard Truchsess, who had married, and again attempted a 
reformation in his diocese, was excommunicated by the pope, 
and driven into exile by Spanish troops from the Nether- 
lands. The Protestant princes had nothing to oppose to 
this unprecedented deposition of an imperial elector by the 
pope except a helpless protest. In Saxony, the Albertino 
line of electors, descended from Augustus, the brother of 
Maurice, continued in hostility to the deposed Ernestine line, 
which was still unable to recover its loss. This feud entered 
into the ecclesiastical as well as the political complications 
of the time. During Maximilian's reign, John Frederick's 
son of the same name, a prince as unfortunate as his father, 
made an adventurous effort, with the help of William of 



Chap. XVII. CIVIL WAR IN SAXONY. 



405 




Kiuiolph II. (15T6-1612). 



Grumbach, a Franconian knight, to regain the electoral dig- 
nity. Grumbacli had been a companion of Albert Alcibi- 
ades, and had a large following among the nobles of the 
empire. Some time afterward his people slew the Bishop 
of Wiirzburg, his enemy, and he was put under the ban. 
He took refuge with John Frederick, and amused him with 
the hope of regaining the lost honors of his house. But the 
Emperor Maximilian laid the ban on John Frederick too, 
and charged Augustus, Elector of Saxony, with its execu- 
tion. After a valiant defense, Gotha was taken, Grumbach 
put to a cruel death, and John Frederick sent as a prisoner 
to Austria (1566). The lands of the duke fell to his brother, 
and were afterward divided among several lines of descend- 
ants. The " Grumbach afiair," as it was called, had this 



406 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

unfortunate result, that the Albertine line of Saxony thence- 
forth gave themselves up to the influence of Austria, and 
forfeited their position as the protectors of German Protest- 
antism. Ernest of Bavaria oppressed the Protestants in 
Mtinster and Hildesheim, and introduced the Jesuits there, 
who did much to restore the ancient order of things. Under 
his guidance, at the command of the emperor, Catholicism 
was also re-established in Aix. In the South German epis- 
copacies of Wtirzburg and Bamberg, and especially Salzburg, 
Protestantism was crushed out among the people by violence. 
In Strasburg, the Protestant members of the chapter elected 
for bishop John George of Brandenburg, a Pi-otestant prince, 
while the Catholics elected a member of the house of Guise. 
Here, too, the Church party maintained the ascendency. Thus 
stood the empire at the end of the sixteenth century. There 
was general sufficiency and comfort; Germany was richly 
peopled, well cultivated, and seemed to be at the summit of 
prosperity. For half a century it had been ravaged by no 
great war. But hatred, suspicion, bitterness, and jealousy 
were quietly at work, and men's minds felt an apprehension 
of some terrible disaster at hand. 

§ 9. The disaster thus foreshadowed came on rapidly after 
the seventeenth century began. There were two young 
pi'inces, kinsmen, educated together in the rigid school of the 
Jesuits, who burned with zeal to restore the old Church to 
its power and to destroy heresy. These were Maximilian 
of Bavaria, and Ferdinand of Styria, the emperor's cousin. 
When Ferdinand succeeded to the government in his duchy, 
which was wholly Protestant, he led his armed forces through 
the country, shutting the churches, burning the Lutheran 
books and Bibles, and introducing the mass every where. 
" Better a desert," was his maxim, " than a country full of 
heretics." Duke Maximilian was more cautious in Bavaria, 
which had mostly continued Catholic. His rigid, Spanish 
mind, versed in state-craft, knew how to control and moderate 
his native and educated zeal for religion and his ambition for 
power. But an oj)portunity was soon offered him for inter- 
ference in religious matters. In Donauwerth the Protestants 
broke up a procession of the only Catholic monastery left 
there ; and the emperor pronounced a ban on the city, and 



Chap. XVII. THE SUCCESSION IN CLEVES AND JIILICH. 407 

charged Maximilian with its execution. He captured the 
city, held it as security for the cost of the war, and restored 
the Catholic worship (1607). This violent treatment of a 
free evangelical city induced the Protestants of South Ger- 
many to form in 1608 a league for their own protection, 
called " the Union," with Frederick IV. of the Palatinate at 
its head. Most of its members were of the Reformed Church, 
and relied on the aid of France. On the other hand, Maxi- 
milian of Bavaria had already gathered a small standing 
army, with which he could offer protection to others, and 
on July 10, 1609, at Munich, "the League" was formed of 
the Catholic princes of South Germany, most of them prel- 
ates. They expected help from Austria and Spain. It was 
not long before the two leagues met in arms. 

§ lO.^In 1609, John William, Duke of Jiilich and Cleves, 
died without leaving heirs. He had been in possession of the 
duchies on the Rhine — Cleves, Jtilich, and Berg — and the 
counties of Mark and Ravensberg : a very large territory, 
which had been acquired by him little by little, and was uow 
the most important Catholic principality in Germany, though 
his subjects were mostly Protestants. The question whether 
these countries should fall into Catholic or Protestant hands 
was of great importance. But William of Cleves had obtained 
from the emperor, as a privilege of his house, that on failure 
of the direct male line, the female line of descent might in- 
herit the lands. Under this privilege, Brandenburg was the 
nearest heir. But there were a number of claimants Avith 
more or less color of right, among them the Elector of 
Saxony. 

§ 11. The Electors of Brandenburg* now make their first 
prominent appearance in German history since the time of 
Albert Achilles. During the Reformation, and in the Smal- 
caldic league, they yielded the headshijD to the Electors of 
Saxony. Yet Joachim II. took pains to secure the future ag- 

* The Electors of the house of Hohenzollern were Frederick I.. 141. '»- 
1440; Frederick II. (the man of iron), 1440-1470; Albert Achilles, 1470- 
148G ; John Cicero, 1486-1499 ; Joachim I., 1499-1535 : Joachim II., 1535- 
1571 ; John George, 1571-1598; Joachim Frederick. 1598-1608; John Sig- 
ismund, 1608-1619; George William, 1619-1640; Frederick William, the 
Great Elector, 1640-1688. 



408 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

grandizement of his family. After the secularization of the 
lands in Prussia (1525), the ducal throne remained in the 
house of HohenzoUern, Albert, who introduced the Refor- 
mation, died in 1568, leaving but one sickly son, Albert 
Frederick. Joachim had succeeded in obtaining from Poland 
a joint interest in the fief for the house of Brandenburg. 
Young Albert Frederick married Mary Eleanor, the eldest sis- 
ter of John William of Cleves. The children of this marriage 
were daughters, the eldest of whom became the wife of John 
Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg ; so that in her right he 
would obtain both Prussia and the inheritance of Cleves and 
Jtilich. To contest this claim appeared young Wolfgang Will- 
iam of Pfalz-Xeuburg, son of a younger sister of Duke John 
William ; and insisted that, as the son of a living sister, his 
claim was better than that of a son-in-law of a dead one. But 
it was feared that the emperor would forcibly seize the lands 
as forfeited to the crown, since he had already appointed 
Leopold, Bishop of Strasburg and Passau, a brother of Ferdi- 
nand of Styria, to take charge of them. John Sigismund and 
Wolfgang William therefore met at Dortmund, and agreed 
to make a common cause of their claims; and they took pos- 
session of the lands together. At the same time they sought 
for help against the emperor and the Catholic " League." 
This they found in the Protestant "Union," and in Henry IV. 
of France, whose plan was to break down the ascendency of 
the Austro-Spanish monarch in Europe by war ; and, above 
all, to prevent the Hapsburgs from increasing their power on 
the Lower Rhine. The Union and tlie League were already 
fighting along the Rhine and the Main. Henry IV. made 
ready a great army, but fell by the hand of the assassin Rav- 
aillac, May 14, 1610. This event suddenly changed the whole 
aspect of affairs, and the Union and the League came to 
terms the same year, tlie former losing by death their head, 
Frederick IV. ; and Maximilian, the leader of the League, be- 
ing anxious not to add to the power of the Hapsburgs. But 
John Sigismund and Wolfgang William now parted. The 
latter turned Catholic, married a sister of Maximilian, and 
joined the League ; while the former became a Calvinist, and 
allied himself with England, Holland, and all the powers 
which opposed the Hapsburgs. In this struggle Spanish 



Chap. XVII. JULICH AND CLEVES DIVIDED. 



409 



troops were again brought to the Lower Rhine, under Spinola, 
to maintain the cause of Wolfgang William and the League. 
They were quartered most oppressively on the people, and oc- 
cupied Diisseldorf, Miihlheim, and Wesel. On the other hand, 
the Dutch took firm possession of Cleves. Foreigners began 
to plant their manners and life more and more on German soil. 
Finally, Brandenburg and Neuburg agreed to a division ; and 
the convention of Xanten, November 12, 1614, gave to Bran- 
denburg Cleves, Mark, and Kavensberg, to Neuburg Jillich 
and Berg. Yet the foreigners remained in the country. 
Once more the two great parties rested under arms. 

§ 12. Rudolph n. died January 10, 1612, his heart broken in 
his unfortunate war with his brother Matthias, who finally 




Matthias (1612-1619). 



410 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

wrested even Bohemia from him. Matthias (1612-1619), who 
succeeded him, desired, for reasons of policy, to take a concilia- 
tory course toward both Catholics and Protestants. But there 
was still sad confusion in parts of the empire. Bethleri Ga- 
bor, a rebel, supported by the Turks, steadily gained strength 
in Hungary and Siebenbtirgen ; and the Protestant nobles 
in Austria showed ever greater boldness. Matthias was 
childless, and endeavored to secure the succession in Austria, 
especially in the crown-lands, for the Archduke Ferdinand 
of Styria, the most powerful member of his family. They 
visited Bohemia together in 1617, and the Bohemians elect- 
ed Ferdinand their future king, though against the remon- 
strance of the more decided Protestants. Ferdinand pledged 
himself to respect all the rights of the Bohemians, and to 
carry out the royal letter of 1609, assuring their religious lib- 
erty. They then repaired, for the same purpose, to Hungary, 
leaving Bohemia to be governed meanwhile by ten royal 
councilors. But disputes arose at once. The Abbot of Bran- 
nan closed an evangelical church then building; and the 
Archbishop of Prague caused one which had been built at 
Klostergjrab to be torn down. The Protestant nobles regard- 
ed these acts as violations of the royal letter, and complained 
to Matthias. He made an ungracious answer, even threat- 
ening them as disturbers of the jDcace. They believed that 
his decision was prompted by the report of two of the coun- 
cilors, Martinitz and Slavata. At the invitation of the pas- 
sionate and offended Count Matthias Thurn, the Protestant 
nobles assembled soon after at Prague ; a mob gathered at 
the house in which the council met, and after a bitter dis- 
pute with the two suspected councilors, they were thrown 
out of the window, "according to the ancient Bohemian cus- 
tom," May 23,1618. 

§ 13. The councilors were thrown from the high windows 
of the castle into the ditch, said to be a fall of eighty feet ; 
but they fell upon a heap of refuse, and were little hurt. The 
Catholics regarded the event as a miracle, and declared that 
the men had been upborne by angels. This was the first act 
of violence, which completed the breach between the two 
parties, and may be regarded as the opening of the Thirty- 
Years' War, which desolated all Germany. The Protestants 



Chap. XVII. THE REVOLT OF BOHEMIA. 411 

were largely in the majority in Bohemia. The whole country 
rose in arms, only Pilsen and two smaller cities adhering to 
the king ; and, under Thurn's guidance, a provisional govern- 
ment of thirty directors was established. No one doubted 
that Matthias would take measures at once to avenge his 
councilors. The Bohemians were far superior to the Aus- 
trians in power, and had a further advantage in the sympa- 
thy of the Austrian Protestants. Matthias, indeed, was sick 
with dropsy, and dreaded the effect upon Austria and Hunga- 
ry of a religious war in Bohemia. He therefore determined 
still to seek a reconciliation. But Ferdinand, who was already 
chosen his successor, took part with the Jesuits, and insisted 
on yielding nothing, though his object was absolute power 
rather than the supremacy of his faith. By his aid the Jes- 
uits took possession of the government, and defeated every 
effort for peace. Matthias died, March 20, 1619, while both 
parties were busily preparing for the struggle, but before 
any movement of importance was made by either. 

§ 14. When Ferdinand H. entered on his government in 
Austria, his situation was one of extreme difficulty. Thurn 
and his Bohemians advanced to Vienna. Bethlen Gabor held 
a threatening position in Hungary. Even the nobility of 
Austria came to Ferdinand's own castle, and insisted that he 
should assure to them the rights which the royal letter had 
promised to the Bohemians, and that he should approve their 
alliance with the Bohemian^ He firmly rejected their de- 
mands, though only five hundred knights came at the right 
moment to protect him. But the irresolution of his enemies 
left him time for resistance and preparation. He was chosen 
emperor (Ferdinand H., 1619-1637) at Frankfort, August 28, 
1619, by the vote of all the electors, Catholic and Protestant, 
except the Elector of the Palatinate, and was crowned at 
Frankfort September 9. But during the very festivities of 
the occasion came the tidings that the Protestants of Bohe- 
mia, Moravia, and Silesia rejected him as their king. After 
some disputes, they agreed, August 27, upon Frederick V., 
the young Elector Palatine, through whom they hoped to 
obtain the help of the Union. Frederick was a weak, facile 
youth, controlled by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of James 
I. of England, who aspired to a crown, and by Christian of 



412 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book IV. 




Ferdiuand II. (1619-163T). 

Anhalt, who led him into vain hopes and enterprises. He 
accepted the election, in spite of the grief of his old mothei-, 
who cried at parting, " Now the Palatinate is going to Bo- 
hemia." Frederick entered Prague October 31, 1619, and at 
once proclaimed liberty of religion ; but the fanaticism of 
his chief adviser, the court -preacher Scultetus, destroyed 
the images and altars in the cathedral, and fitted it up for 
Calvinistic worshij), an act which embittered Lutherans as 
well as Catholics against him. Maximilian of Bavaria, to 
help the emperor, sent his own troops and those of the League 
— together forming a well-appointed army of Bavarians 
(1620). The Bohemians were under several leaders, who 
could not agree: Thurn was irresolute, and Ernest of Mans- 



Chap. XVII. SUBJUGATION OF BOHEMIA. 413 

feld was adventurous and equivocal. Besides, the Union 
now, through the mediation of France, made a craven peace 
with the League, July 3, 1620, promising to aid Frederick in 
defending the Palatinate alone. The emperor's threats ex- 
torted aid from all the other German princes. The Luther- 
ans were, at best, opposed to Frederick V. on theological 
grounds; and even John George, Elector of Saxony, was in 
alliance with Ferdinand. The Bohemians, without a battle, 
retreated under the walls of Prague before the imperial army, 
commanded by Maximilian of Bavaria. Here, on the White 
Hill, the decisive battle was fought, November 8,1620; and 
the Bohemians were utterly defeated. Frederick V. was ris- 
ing from his table when the fugitives reached him. He might 
still have occupied the city, and thus have saved Bohemia; 
but he lost his head, and fled the same night, abandoning his 
crown. His cowardice unmanned his adherents : Prague sur- 
rendered ; all Bohemia was occupied by Ferdinand's troops, 
as were Moravia and Silesia, which were still regarded as its 
dependencies. In his fall, Frederick V. dragged down with 
him his ally,Margiave John George, of the Hohenzollern fam- 
ily, whose duchy of Jagerndorf, in Silesia, was now forfeited 
to the emperor. Fredei'ick died at Mayence in 1632. 

§ 15. Thus Bohemia was subjugated easily. The emperor 
had opened the war with Hungarian, Spanish, and Italian 
troops and supplies. He now made haste, since the rebell- 
ious country had brought to naught the constitution he had 
made, to destroy the power of the nobles, and Protestantism 
with it. He withdrew the royal letters. He was already 
master in Austria. His brother-in-law, Sigismund, King of 
Poland, lent him troops, hordes of wild Cossacks, with which 
he subdued the country, closed the Protestant churches, 
and drove the people to mass. His stern, persecuting spirit 
now treated Bohemia with no less severity and cruelty. He 
waited, indeed, until the rebels felt sure of safety, and then 
he imitated the course of Alva in the Netherlands. In 1621, 
arrests began suddenly. On June 21, twentj^-seven eminent 
nobles were beheaded in the market-place at Pi'ague. The 
estates of those who had escaped were confiscated. Thou- 
sands of families left tlieir homes in want. The evangelical 
churches were arranged for Catholic service. The universi- 



414 HISTOKY OF GEllMANY. Book IV. 

ties and schools were handed over to the Jesuits. The ancient 
pride of freedom, the prosperity and the faith of the Bohe- 
mians were trodden under foot, and the peace of the church- 
yard was established through the land. The Roman faith 
was alone tolerated throughout the hereditary lands of the 
house of Austria. Under the terrible system of repression, 
but pitiful remnants of evangelical churches survived, main- 
ly in Hungary and Siebenbiirgen. During these wars and 
persecutions the population of Bohemia is believed to have 
been reduced from about four millions to less than eight 
hundred thousand. 

§ 16. The war in Bohemia was the beginning of terrible 
misfortunes for all Protestant Germany ; but it did not for 
a long time awaken among evangelical believers the atten- 
tion and sympathy it deserved. Indeed, the Lutherans of 
Saxony and Brandenburg were pleased that the Calvinists 
had been thus humbled. The Elector of Saxony acted with 
Ferdinand and Maximilian ; and for a time he enjoyed the 
possession of the Lausitz, the reward he desired. The Ger- 
man electors were not ashamed to permit Spinola, with for- 
eign troops, to desolate the Palatinate. But in 1621, the em- 
peror declared Frederick, who had been expelled, to have for- 
feited his electorate of the Palatinate, and made his purpose 
evident to give it to Duke Maximilian, the head of the League. 
Then the princes clearly saw their own danger. No previous 
emperor, not even Charles V., had ventured to depose an elect- 
or without consulting the princes of the empire. Besides, 
the change would make the number of Catholic electors five, 
against two Protestants. The nobles of North Germany 
were alarmed for their own independence, and took counsel, 
under the lead of Christian IV. of Denmark, who, as Duke of 
Holstein, belonged to the circle of Lower Saxony, for the 
protection of Frederick V. in his electorate. But they all 
lacked spirit and a serious purpose ; and King Christian him- 
self was more eager to secure for his family such Protestant 
bishoprics as Bremen, Verden, and Osnabrtick, than to defend 
freedom and religion. The two most influential of the Prot- 
estant powers in North Germany adhered to a lukewarm 
neutrality : John George of Saxony, the emperor's ally, and 
George William, the irresolute Elector of Brandenburg. Hei- 



Chap. XVII. THE GREAT WAR BEGINS IN EARNEST. 415 

delberg, Frankenthal, and some other places in the Palati- 
nate, still held out against Spinola ; and Ernest of Mansfeld, 
though driven from the Upper Palatinate by Maximilian and 
Tilly, succeeded in returning thither. 

§ 17. Now began those frightful devastations by generals 
and their troops which make the Thirty-Years' War so mem- 
orable. Several commanders, who might rather be called 
captains of banditti, distinguished themselves in this way. 
Ernest of Mansfeld was of a Catholic family, and fought first 
against the Protestants, and after his conversion on their 
side. His warfai-e in the service of Frederick V, was sup- 
ported in part by subsidies from England and France, and in 
part by contributions levied on the lands in which he fought. 
This method of making war support itself was not new, but 
now for the first time became universal. Opposed to him 
was Maximilian's general, Tilly, who had done much sei'vice 
to the houses of Bavaria and Austria against the heretics. 
He was a little man, of an almost comic appearance, wearing 
a pointed beard, and a long red feather drooping from his 
hat. His principles were monkish ; his character a singular 
one — formidable, resolute, and cunning in conducting his cam- 
paigns, and unequaled in military skill and in obedience to 
the prince he served. Of the princes of " the Union," the 
only one who fought faithfully on the Rhine for Frederick V. 
was George Frederick of Baden-Durlach. But in Westpha- 
lia and Lower Saxony, Christian of Brunswick, the adventur- 
ous Bishop of Halberstadt, a Protestant, upheld the standard 
of the proscribed elector. This wild and unbridled youth 
still retained the spirit of knighthood. He carried as a " fa- 
vor," the glove of the Countess Palatine on his hat, and fought 
for her as his lady. Under the motto " God's friend, priests' 
foe," he devastated and plundered the lands of Catholics, 
and especially of the Church. Ernest of Mansfeld and George 
Frederick of Baden together obtained a success at AVitloch 
against Tilly, April 29, 1622. But they soon disagreed and 
parted ; and then Tilly defeated Mansfeld at Wimpfen, May 6. 
Christian of Brunswick was on the way with a considera- 
ble force from Westphalia, but suifered himself to be drawn 
into a battle before joining Mansfeld, and suffered a defeat at 
Huchst, June 19. Thus Frederick's cause was lost. The 



416 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

Union was dissolved ; Maximilian obtained the electorate as 
well as the Upper Palatinate, which adjoined his duchy 
(1623). The emperor himself seized the Rhine Palatinate, 
and hoped to keep it. 

§ 18, Ernest of Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick were 
the immediate occasion of the further extension of the war. 
Both of them, after their defeat, led their wild troops into 
the Netherlands to fight the Spaniards. But they proved a 
scourge to the country, and were soon sent back into Gei'- 
many. Christian marched into the circle of the Lower Rhine 
and Westphalia, where he levied contributions on the Catho- 
lic Church lands ; and Ernest into East Frisia, where he 
harassed the rich peasants and cities, though of the reformed 
faith. The emperor now had a pretext for sending Tilly 
into North Germany, to protect the peace of the empire 
against these bandits. He came, and having overthrown 
Christian in Westphalia, August 6, 1623, remained in this cir- 
cle with his army, gave back the churches to the few Catho- 
lics left there, and helped to suppress Protestantism wherever 
he could. The danger of the North German Lutherans 
steadily increased. The circle of Lower Saxony, which was 
immediately threatened, in 1624 took measures for defense: 
appointing Chi-istian IV. of Denmark general of the army, 
and taking into service Christian of Brunswick, as much to 
be safe from his depredations as to secure his aid. But 
Christian allied himself again with Tilly, and led him directly 
across the frontier of the circle of Lower Saxony. Tilly laid 
siege to Hoxter, and the circle declared war, on the ground 
that its neutrality had been violated. 

§ 19. The house of Welf, the most influential in Lower 
Saxony, was now distracted by divisions ; and Christian IV. 
of Denmark took the command — a foreign prince, whose first 
object was his own advantage. He had hitherto been the 
enemy of the freedom of the German cities, had driven the 
Hanse league out of the Northern Seas, and had often act- 
ed in a vain and presumptuous manner; yet he was now 
the only protector of the Protestant cause, for Saxony and 
Brandenburg (the circle of Upper Saxony) still remained 
neutral. Thus in 1625 began the second great period of the 
war. The emperor, for the time, carried it on with his own 



Chap. XVII. WALLENSTEIN. 417 

army. He had long been embarrassed by his great obliga- 
tions to Maximilian, to the League and its general, Tilly ; for 
Maximilian had sold all his assistance dearly. A private man 
now offered to bring him an army of his own, which should 
cost the emperor nothing. This was Albert Wallenstein : 
born of a Protestant family in Bohemia, but whose dark, de- 
vouring ambition had driven him in early life to Italy, into 
the bosom of the Catholic Church and to the study of the 
black arts. By marriage he had acquired wealth ; and by 
eminent military ability rapidly rose to high honors, until, at 
the time of the great Bohemian confiscations, he obtained, by 
purchase and by imperial grants, princely estates and power. 
Avarice, a love of display, and superior ability as an econo- 
mist, were alike characteristic of him. Wallenstein under- 
took to imitate Mansfeld and Christian, and to raise an 
army which should support itself in the field by a magnificent 
system of plunder and contributions. He was the greatest 
and most terrible of all these bandit warriors. His personal 
appearance made a mysterious and awful impression on those 
around him. He was exceedingly tall and thin, and wore 
on his hat, like Tilly, a blood-red feather. His cape was of 
moose-skin. His glance was dark, his words few and stern. 
The soldiers thought hira invulnerable, and in league with 
evil spirits. Ferdinand H. not only adopted this man's 
shameless plan, but in July, 1625, authorized him to collect 
and maintain his hordes in peaceful circles, in Suabia and 
Franconia; and before the end of the year he had brought 
together an army of 25,000 men, the offscourings of all Ger- 
many, Meanwhile Christian IV, entered the country of the 
river Weser. Tilly, with the soldiers of the League, marched 
thi-ough Hesse south of the Hartz, into the neighborhood of 
Grubenhagen and Gottingen ; Wallenstein, with his newly 
formed imperial army, into that of Magdeburg, It was only 
now that the war began to show all its terrors. These armies 
carried the most frightful devastation with them. Yet the 
contest this year was indecisive. Christian IV., while riding 
around the walls of Hameln, fell heavily with his horse, and 
afterward retreated. The armies continued cruelly to lay 
waste the land. 

§ 20. But Christian IV. again entered the scene, in the 

Ee 



418 HISTOEY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

spring of 1626, with new forces, and supplied with new sub- 
sidies by England and France. Joining him on his right, 
toward Westphalia, lay Christian of Brunswick ; on his left, 
stretching toward the middle waters of the Elbe, Ernest of 
Mansfeld. Against Ernest, Wallenstein marched, and de- 
feated him at the bridge of Dessau, April 25, 1626. Mans- 
feld retreated to Brandenburg, carrying the war with him, 
obtained reinforcements, and turned to march through Silesia 
to Hungary, in order to join Bethlen Gabor, who still kept 
the field against Ferdinand II. Wallenstein followed him 
through Lausitz, Silesia, Moravia, and far into Hungary. But 
Bethlen Gabor was already treating for peace with Austria, 
and Mansfeld's army dispersed, while he sought to reach 
Venice by sea, in order to go thence to England. But he 
died on the journey. Untamed and defiant, as he had been 
through life, he was clad in full armor, and awaited death 
standing, supported by his friends. Christian of Brunswick 
preceded him in the spring of the same year. 

§ 21. While Wallenstein followed Mansfeld away from the 
seat of war, Tilly retreated to Eichsfeld before Christian IV. 
The king expected to reach Thuringia and Franconia ; but 
Tilly, reinforced by troops which Wallenstein had left behind, 
marched against him. Christian IV. now attempted to re- 
treat over the Hartz to his fortified camp at Wolfenbtittel, 
but at the northwestern brow of the range of hills, where 
the forest ways lead down to the plain, he w^as overtaken by 
Tilly, and utterly defeated at Lutter, on the Baremberg, 
August 27, 1626. After this victory, Tilly was able to press 
forward to the North Sea. The next year, 1627, Wallenstein 
came back to Hungary, with his army strengthened, marched 
through Silesia and Lausitz, violated the neutrality of Bran- 
denburg, and invaded Mecklenburg. Then he joined Tilly, 
and they drove the Danes out of Holstein, Silesia, and Jut- 
land to their islands. Wallenstein now supported his army 
at the expense of Mecklenburg and Pomerania, and under- 
took the most daring schemes. He obtained from the em- 
peror a promise of Mecklenburg, whose duke had been ex- 
pelled without the pretense of right. The remnants of the 
old Hanse league were to join the Spanish fleet, subdue the 
free Netherlands, and extend the power of the Hapsburgs over 



Chap. XVir. THE EDICT OF RESTITUTION. 41 9 

the Northern Seas. On the other hand, an alliance must be 
formed with Poland, to crush Sweden, the last Protestant 
power in the North. Wallenstein assumed the title of " Ad- 
miral of the Baltic Sea and the Ocean." But these vast 
plans were broken by Wallenstein's failure in an attempt to 
capture Stralsund. He would have the city, he said, " though 
it hung by chains from heaven ;" but its manly people, with 
their valiant municipal authorities, made good their defense 
(June and July, 1628). 

§ 22. The Emperor Ferdinand was still so strong in his tri- 
umphs and his armies that he believed himself able to give 
Protestantism its death-stroke. On March 6, 1629, he issued 
the famous Edict of Restitution. Appealing to the "ecclesi- 
astical reservation," he ordered that all the property of the 
Catholic Church which had been acquired or secularized by the 
Protestants since the convention of Passau should be restored. 
This would have deprived the Protestants of a number of 
spiritual principalities, including, in North Germany, Brem- 
en, Verden, Hildesheim, Magdeburg, Havelberg, Branden- 
burg, and others, and established Catholic bishops in them. 
But the princes of these territories controlled the religion of 
the people, so that such a change would be a serious blow to 
Protestantism. For the edict was to apply also to Franconia 
and Suabia. The private possessions of all the princes were at- 
tacked by it, and the estates of six thousand noblemen declared 
forfeited. Moreover, no Protestants were to be tolerated in 
the empire but those who accepted the Augsburg Confession — 
and therefore no Calvinists. This Edict of Restitution was 
merely provisional, the ultimate purpose being to demand 
back for the Church all the lands which had been taken away 
since the Reformation. Soon afterward the Danes begged 
for peace, and obtained it by the treaty of Liibeck, May 12, 
1629 ; and thus Christian IV. abandoned the cause of German 
Protestantism to the fate which now seemed inevitable. Hav- 
ing disposed of all his enemies, the emperor saw before him 
the prospect of supreme, unlimited power, such as Charles V, 
had striven in vain to reach after the Smalcaldic Wai-. Wal- 
lenstein openly declared that the states were no longer want- 
ed; the emperor must be master in Germany, just as the 
kings were in France and Spain. 



420 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

§ 23. Even the Catholic princes in the empire were now 
alarmed for their independence. At their head was Maxi- 
milian of Bavaria, to whom the emperor was indebted- for his 
first victories. They especially hated Wallenstein, because 
he had raised the emperor's power to such a height, and en- 
abled him to dispense with the League ; and because of the 
enormous wealth he had accumulated by his marauding cam- 
paigns, which enabled him to purchase estates such as none 
but the greatest princely inheritances could rival, Europe 
began to be alarmed, and above all France, always jealous 
of the Austro-Spanish monarchy, and now under the guidance 
of Richelieu. That minister began to threaten theHapsburg 
power in Italy, and to cultivate intimate relations with Max- 
imilian of Bavaria, Meanwhile, in 1630, a Diet of princes was 
held at Regensburg, and on all sides the bitterest complaints 
were made. Ferdinand II. was desirous of obtaining the 
election of his son Ferdinand to be his successor as King 
of the Romans, and could only win the favor of the princes 
by the sacrifice of Wallenstein, who was dismissed. He 
received the notice of his dismissal coldly and proudly, hav- 
ing already read in the stars, he said, that the emperor's 
mind was governed by the Bavarian's. He was not oftended 
so much by his removal from the command as that Mecklen- 
burg, and with it the position of a prince of the empire, were 
lost to him. In Sej^tember he withdrew in great splendor 
to the private life of a Duke of Friedland, in Bohemia, and 
awaited, at Gitschin, his capital, the time when he would be 
indispensable to the emperor. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

END OF THE THIRTY-YEAES' WAR; THE PEACE OF WESTPHA- 
LIA, A.D. 1629-1648. 

§ 1. Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden. § 2. His Relations to other Pow- 
ers. § 3. He Invades the Empire, and Reaches Berlin. § 4. The Sack 
of Magdeburg. § 5. Battle of Leipsic. § 6. Its Results. Battle of the 
Lech. § 7. Wallenstein Recalled. § 8. Lines of Nuremberg. Battle of 
Liitzen ; Death of Gustavus Adolphus. § 9. Sweden Continues the War. 
§ 10. Wallenstein in Bohemia. His Removal and Death. § 11. Battle 
of Nordlingen and Campaign in Alsace. § 12. The Separate Peace of 
Prague. § 13. Bernard of Weimar; his Achievements and Death. § 14. 
Ferdinand III. Emperor. Second Battle of Leipsic. § 15. The Situation 
at the End of the War. § 16. Successful Negotiations for Peace. § 17. 
Cessions to France and Sweden. Switzerland and the Netherlands Aban- 
doned. § 18. Disposition of Church Property. § 19. Toleration of Religion. 
§ 20. Political Consequences of the Peace. § 21. Germany Humbled. 

§ 1. Gustavus Adolphus succeeded his father, Charles IX., 
as King of Sweden, October 30, 1611, at the age of eighteen. 
His cousin, Sigismund, had been deposed in Sweden in 1602, 
but was still King of Poland ; was a zealous Catholic, and a 
brother-in-law of the Emperor Ferdinand II. He for a long 
time contested the Swedish crown with Gustavus Adolphus, 
and obtained troops from Wallenstein's army, by the com- 
mand of the emperor. But Gustavus Adolphus felt prompt- 
ed to become the champion and saviour of Protestantism in 
Europe. He was a man of a great soul. To remarkable 
prudence and strength of will, he united deep, genuine piety, 
which he showed in practice by his justice, generosity, and 
kindness. He was the only general of the time who kept in 
check the fierce passions of the soldiers, preserved a rigid 
discipline, and required his enemies to be treated with hu- 
manity. His clear understanding took firm and intelligent 
views of both secular and spiritual things. His lofty charac- 
ter was written in his commanding blue eye and open face. 
Though very, heavy in person, he shared all the fatigues of 
his soldiers, and his genius introduced great improvements in 
the art of war. 



422 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

§ 2. Gustavus Adolphus was not merely a kniglitly cham- 
pion of the faith. He was a king who cherished bold and 
far-reaching schemes for his own country. He was the grand- 
son of Gustavus Vasa, who first introduced the Reformation 
into Sweden. From that time the house of Vasa constant- 
ly increased in power. To Sweden, then, belonged Finland, 
Esthonia, Livonia, and Ingermannland ; Courland, too, though 
still an independent ducl^, was under the influence of Swe- 
den, which thus controlled almost all the lands around the 
Baltic that had ever been open to German culture. The only 
exceptions were Prussia — the former country of the German 
order, but since 1618 a dependency of Brandenburg— and 
Pomerania. In Poraerania the ancient ducal family was on 
the decline. Bogislaw XIV. had no child ; and in case of his 
death, this important country would fall, by a long-standing 
agreement, to Brandenburg. It seemed likely that Gustavus 
Adolphus would try to acquire it, so as to make the Baltic a 
Swedish sea. Richelieu aided the plans of the King of Swe- 
den, both of. them desiring to check the ascendency of the 
Hapsburgs; and with the same object he mediated a peace 
between Sweden and Poland, that Gustavus Adolphus might 
be free to deal with Germany. 

§ 3. On June 24, 1630, one hundred years, to a day, after 
the Augsburg Confession was promulgated, Gustavus Adol- 
phus landed on the coast of Pomerania, near the mouth of 
the river Peene, with thirteen thousand men, veteran troops, 
whose rigid discipline was sustained by their piety, and who 
were simple-minded, noble and glowing with the spirit of the 
battle. He had reasons enough for declaring war against 
Ferdinand, even if ten thousand of Wallenstein's troops had 
not been sent to aid Sigismund against him. But the con- 
trolling motive, in his own mind, was to succor the imperiled 
cause of religious freedom in Germany. Coining as the pro- 
tector of the evangelic Church, he expected to be joined by 
the Protestant princes. But he was disappointed. Only the 
trampled and tortured people of North Germany, who in their 
despair were ready for revolts and conspiracies of tl>^r own, 
welcomed him as their deliverer from the bandits of Wallen- 
stein and the League. Gustavus Adolphus appeared before 
Stettin, and by threats compelled the old duke, Bogislaw 



Chap. XVIII. THE SIEGE OF MAGDEBURG. 423 

XIV,, to open to him his capital city. He then took measures 
to secure possession of Pomerania. His army grew rapidly, 
while that of the emperor was widely dispersed, so that he 
now advanced into Brandenburg. George William, the elect- 
or, was a weak prince, though a Protestant, and a brother of 
the Queen of Sweden ; he was guided by his Catholic chancel- 
lor, Schwarzenberg, and had painfully striven to keep neutral 
throughout tlie war, neither side, however, respecting his 
neutrality. In dread of the plans of Gustavus Adolphus con- 
cerning Pomerania and Prussia, he held aloof from him. 
Meanwhile Tilly, general -in -chief of the troops of the em- 
peror and the League, drew near, but suddenly turned aside 
to New Brandenburg, in the Mecklenburg territory, now oc- 
cupied by the Swedes, captured it after three assaults, and 
put the garrison to the sword (1631). He then laid siege to 
Magdeburg. Gustavus Adolphus took Fiankfort-on-the- 
Oder, where there was an imperial garrison, and treated it, in 
retaliation, with the same severity. Thence, in the spring of 
1031, he set out for Berlin. He demanded that meanwhile, 
until Magdeburg should be freed from the enemy, the elector 
should open Spandau to him. The negotiations on this sub- 
ject delayed him. In Potsdam he heard of the fall of Mag- 
deburg. He then marched with flying banners into Berlin, 
and compelled the elector to become his ally. 

§ 4. Magdeburg was the strong refuge of Protestantism, 
and the most important trading centre in North Germany. 
It had resisted the Augsburg Interim of 1548, and now re- 
sisted the Edict of Restitution, rejected the newly appointed 
prince bishop, Leopold William, son of the emperor himself, 
and refused to receive the emperor's garrison. The city was 
therefore banned by the emperor, and was besieged for many 
weeks by Pappenheim, a general of the League, who was 
then reinforced by Tilly himself with his army. Gustavus 
Adolphus w^as unable to make an advance, in view of the 
equivocal attitude of the two great Protestant electors, with- 
out exjjosing his rear to garrisoned fortresses. From Bran- 
denburg as well as Saxony he asked in vain for help to save 
the Protestant city. Thus Magdeburg fell, May 10, 1631. 
The citizens were deceived by a pretended withdrawal of the 
enemy. But suddenly, at early dawn, the badly guarded 



424 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

fortifications were stormed. A bloody figlit in the streets 
followed. The city was then fired; and the hordes of Tilly 
and Pappenheim, Croats and Walloons, the dregs of all nations, 
poured into Magdeburg, burning, pillaging, slaughtering in 
streets and houses, with horrors never seen before. So full 
of cruelty and barbarism was the scene that a number of 
Tilly's own ofiicers besought him to put an end to the sack 
of the city. But the commander disgraced himself forever 
by his answer: "The men must have some compensation for 
their toils — come back in an hour." The city was in fact 
given up for three days to the unbridled passions of the 
soldiers. Except the cathedral and a few fishermen's huts, 
all the buildings were laid in ashes. Of thirty-five thousand 
inhabitants, scarce five thousand crept out of the cathedral 
and hiding-places, and obtained mercy from the conqueror at 
his entrance. He wrote to the emperor that no such victory 
had been achieved since the fall of Troy and of Jerusalem. 
This was his last boast. From the day of Magdeburg Tilly's 
fame and fortune declined. 

§ 5. Gustavus Adolphus soon drew near, crossed the Elbe 
at Tangermiinde, and established a fortified camp at Werben. 
Here he was joined by William, Landgrave of Hesse, a prince 
no less resolute than his noble ancestors.* He now called 
his Protestant people to arms, to resist their oppressors. 
Bernard, Duke of Weimar, a great-grandson of the John Fred- 
erick who was exiled and despoiled of his land in 1547, had 
already joined him. Tilly marched directly into the terri- 
tories of these princes, to punish the people for the revolt of 
their rulers. He laid siege to Werben, but failed in an at- 
tempt to storm the fortress, and was compelled to retreat ; 
while Gustavus Adolphus restored the Dukes of Mecklenburg, 
though under his own supremacy. Tilly advanced into Sax- 
ony, pillaging the cities, in order to compel the elector to 
withdraw from the Leipsic Convention, and abandon the 
Protestant cause. But John George now saw his peril, and 
knew that if Protestantism were suppressed, his own house 

* After the death of Philip the Magnanimous, excellent princes ruled 
Ilesse-Cassel : William I., the Wise, 1567-1592; Maximilian I., 1592-1(327. 
They fostered schools and the Church, and gave especial attention to train- 
ing the people in the use of arms — a labor which now produced useful results. 



Chap. XVIII. THE BATTLE OF LEIPSIC. 425 

must fall ; and in despair, he implored the King of Sweden to 
come to his rescue. Gustavus Adolphus had already gone 
back across the Elbe ; but he marched at once to Saxony, 
and at Diiben joined the troops of the elector. Tilly was at 
Breitenfeld, near Leipsic. Here Gustavus Adolphus attacked 
him, September 7, 1631, and Tilly, the victor in thirty-six 
battles, lost the field. The heavy squares of the Leaguists 
were scattered by the light and active lines of the Swedes and 
their easily moved guns. The king had mingled musketeers 
with his cavalry and with his pikemen. The veteran army 
of the League was destroyed. 

§ 6. This victory was decisive, both in its military and in 
its moral results. It made Gustavus Adolphus master of 
Germany, and filled the evangelical party with the wildest 
enthusiasm for their new champion. Nearly all the Protest- 
ant princes at once took part with him. He marched rapid- 
ly and without opposition through Thuringia to the Main, 
and down that river through Fianconia to Frankfort, reach- 
ing the Rhine at Mayence December 24, Here, at the height 
of his success, he went into winter-quarters. In all the ec- 
clesiastical lands he required homage to himself as feudal 
lord, and he doubtless expected to secularize them. He also 
postponed restoring the Palatinate to Frederick V., who ap- 
plied to him. He was perhaps entertaining the grand idea 
of a Protestant empire, closely uniting in one the kindred 
countries of Sweden and Germany, already one in faith. He 
planned a marriage between Christina, his only daughter, 
and the only son of Frederick William, Elector of Branden- 
burg, the son who was afterward " the Great Elector." But 
these plans were extremely difficult to execute, and would 
probably have benefited neither nation. The king now be- 
gan to be seriously embarrassed by two causes : the equiv- 
ocal course of the Elector of Saxony, who, while he ad- 
vanced into Bohemia, still neglected to take decisive meas- 
ures against the emperor, and the jealousy of France, to 
which, now that the emperor was helpless, Bavaria and the 
prelates turned for protection. As the spring of 1632 ap- 
proached, he drove Tilly out of Franconia, and entered Nu- 
remberg, where the Protestant population welcomed him 
with delight. He then marched to Bavaria. Tilly defended 



426 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

the frontier, but fell, severely wounded, in the battle on the 
Lech, April 16, 1632, and died in Ingolstadt, April 30, aged 
seventy -three. Gustavus Adolphus then went to the free 
city of Augsburg, where he was welcomed with joy, and 
where the formal homage of the citizens was paid to him. 
While Maximilian of Bavaria occupied Regensburg, Gustavus 
Adolphus laid siege to Ingolstadt ; but failing to take it, 
turned to Munich, which surrendered to him, and was kindly 
treated. Thence he marched into Suabia. 

§ 7. In Vienna it had been mockingly j^redicted that " the 
evangelical Maccabaeus " would speedily go down, like " the 
winter-king " at Prague, before the emperor's good-fortune ; 
but now the city was alarmed for its own safety. The peo- 
ple cried out that none but Wallenstein could save the cause. 
Soon after the battle at Leipsic, he was summoned to re- 
sume the chief command. But he chose to enjoy his mali- 
cious triumph, and long refused to come. Yet in December, 
1631, yielding to long and urgent entreaty, he promised to 
bring an army of 30,000 men into the field in three months, 
and then to take the command for as much longer. And in 
fact his name " went like the god of war through the world." 
An army came together at once, in Bohemia and Moravia, 
formed of those bands that knew no trade but arms, nor any 
cause to fight for but plunder. None but Wallenstein, of 
course, could command this host, and he was finally per- 
suaded to accept the supreme command. But he took it un- 
der such conditions as subject never before or since imposed 
on his prince. He must bave the sole appointment of all of- 
ficers, the exclusive power to decide on all military opera- 
tions in Gennany, and a voice in concluding peace, as if he 
were an independent sovereign. Thus his prospect of ob- 
taining Mecklenburg was renewed, Glogau was put in his 
hands meanwhile as a pledge. The emperor was suspicious, 
but was compelled by necessity to accept these liard terms. 

§ 8, Wallenstein marched through the Bohemian forest to 
Franconia. At Eger, Maximilian joined him, and, concealing 
his hatred and mortification, accepted him as his commander. 
But Wallenstein did not concern himself at all for Bavaria, 
which was then occupied by the enemy ; but threatened Nu- 
remberg. Gustavus Adolphus could not permit the Protest- 



Chap. XVIII. DEATH OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 427 

ant city to be taken by his enemy, and therefore hastened to 
protect it. He had scarcely fixed his camp, when Wallen- 
stein also approached, and occupied an impregnable position 
(June, 1632). The two armies lay thus for nine weeks, each 
expecting that the other would be first dislodged by hun- 
ger. Want of supplies at length compelled the king, most 
reluctantly, to make the attack (August 24, 1632). But 
he assaulted the camp in vain the whole day. Bernard of 
Weimar obtained a strong position on the heights to the 
left, but it was in vain ; the imperial lines defied attack. 
Gustavus Adolphus saw the flower of his army dead on the 
field. Meanness of spirit, disti-ust, and division began to 
spread through the Protestant forces. Gustavus Adolphus 
sought to change the scene of the war by passing southward 
(September 8) to the Danube. But Wallenstein, instead of 
following him, marched, leaving a track of desolation, to 
Saxony, forcing the Swedish king to return to protect that 
country. Thus, late in the year, the decisive battle was 
brought on. Wallenstein was going into winter -quarters 
around Leipsic. The year's campaign seemed to have end- 
ed, and he sent his lieutenant, Pappenheim, with ten thousand 
horse, into Westphalia. But Gustavus Adolphus made forced 
marches to relieve Saxony, and Avas already at Naumberg 
without Wallenstein's knowledge. Hearing of Pappen- 
lieim's departure, he led his army swiftly to attack Wallen- 
stein. The terrible struggle took place on the plain of Liit- 
zen, November 6, 1632. Gustavus Adolphus fell, shot in the 
back, while trying to strengthen his wavering left wing ; 
and his body was so disfigured by the hoofs of the enemy's 
horses as to be scarcely recognized. On the other side, Pap- 
penheim was slain, having been recalled from Halle just in 
time for the battle. Wallenstein himself escaped unhurt, 
though his hat and cloak were ]»ierced with balls ; but he 
lost the battle. He retreated to Bohemia, and there held a 
frightful court-martial, to punish those who had given way 
to the enemy. The Protestant losses w^ere heavy also ; but 
the chief was that of the king, who fell, like Epaminondas, in 
the moment of victory. He was the greatest, noblest, and 
most highly endowed man w^hose name appears in this ruin- 
ous war. Though a foreigner by birth, his work identified 



428 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

him completely with Germany. His death deprived the 
Protestant party of its heart, and left the war without a 
great idea. 

§ 9. After the death of the King of Sweden, Bernard of 
Weimar became the military leader of the Protestants, and 
assumed the immediate command of the forces in South Ger- 
many, in company with the Swedish general Horn. Duke 
George of Brunswick-Liineburg, with another Swedish gen- 
eral, was to command the less important army in the north, 
Oxenstiern, the chancellor of Sweden, took charge of affairs 
of state and negotiations with foreign powers. Thus the 
authority which had been concentrated in Gustavus Adol- 
phus Avas now divided. But a greater evil than this follow- 
ed. The Protestant princes of Germany had often found it 
hard to bear the lordly language of Gustavus Adolphus him- 
self, though a great man and a king ; and they could not 
possibly submit to be controlled by haughty Swedish gen- 
erals and ministers, especially by the aristocracy of the Ox- 
enstiern family. Yet these were the rulers of Sweden, since 
Christina, the only child of Gustavus Adolphus, was but six 
years old. Thus the unity of the cause was lost. On the 
other hand, France, which had hitherto been kept in the back- 
ground by Richelieu, now came forward actively. Oxen- 
stiern and the French embassador brought about an alliance, 
formed at Heilbronn, April 16, 1633, between Sweden and the 
circles of Franconia, Suabia, and the Upper and Lower Rhine, 
which, for the time, secured the ascendency of the opposition 
to the imperial party in the southwestern part of the empire, 

§ 10. That party had what the Protestants lacked — unity 
in the supreme command, held by Wallenstein. But it grew 
ever more evident that the enormous power given to this man 
was a real benefit to no one, least of all to himself After a 
long period of inaction in Bohemia, he marched during the 
summer of 1633, with imperial pomp and splendor, into Sile- 
sia. There he found a mixed army of Swedes, Saxons, and 
Brandenburgers, with Matthias Thurn, who began the war, 
among them. Wallenstein finally shut in this army so that 
he might have captured it ; but he let it go, and went back 
to Bohemia, where he began to negotiate with Saxony for 
peace. Meanwhile the alliance formed at Heilbronn had 



Chap. XVIII. DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN. 429 

brought Maximilian of Bavaria into great distress. Regens- 
burg, hitherto occupied by him, and regarded as an outwork 
of Bavaria and Austria, had been taken by Bernard of Wei- 
mar. But Wallenstein, whom the emperor sent to the rescue, 
only went into the Upper Palatinate, and then returned to 
Bohemia. He seemed to look upon that country as a strong 
and commanding position from which he could dictate peace. 
He carried on secret negotiations with France, Sweden, and 
all the emperor's enemies. He had, indeed, the power to do 
this under his commission ; but his attitude toward his mas- 
ter became constantly more equivocal. The emperor was 
anxious to be rid of him without making him an enemy, and 
wished to give to his own son, the young King of Hungary, 
the command in chief. But the danger of losing his place 
drove Wallenstein to bolder schemes. At his camp at Pilsen, 
all his principal officers were induced by him to unite in a 
written request that he should in no case desert them — a step 
which seemed much like a conspiracy. But some of the gen- 
erals, as Gallas, Aldringer, and Piccolomini, soon abandoned 
Wallenstein, and gave warning to the emperor. He secretly 
signed a patent deposing Wallenstein, and placed it in the 
hands of Piccolomini and Gallas, January 24, 1634, but act- 
ed with the profoundest dissimulation until he had made 
sure of most of the commanders who served under him. 
Then, suddenly, on February 18, Wallenstein, his brother-in- 
law Tertzski, How, Neumann, and Kinsky were put under the 
ban, and the general's possessions were confiscated. Now, at 
length, Wallenstein openly revolted, and began to treat with 
the Swedes for desertion to them ; but they did not fully truO 
him. Attended only by five Sclavonic regiments, who re- 
mained faithful to him, he went to Eger, where he was to 
meet troops of Bernard of Weimar; but before he could join 
them, he and the friends named above were assassinated, 
February 25, by traitors who had remained in his intimate 
companionship, and whom he trusted, under the command of 
Colonel Butler, an Irishman, employed by Piccolomini. The 
emperor escaped a great danger, btit lost his best general. 

§ 11. The divisions among the Protestants gave the Cath- 
olics further advantages. Regensburg was recaptured ; and 
the armies of the emperor, again united under his son, march- 



430 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

ed up the Danube and threatened Nordlingen. Horn and 
Bernard of Weimar united to relieve this city, and a bloody 
fight between them and the imperial forces under Gallas and 
the emperor's son took place around it, on the 6th and Yth 
of September, 1634. The emperor's troops were entirely vic- 
torious, and Horn was taken prisoner. Wirtemberg, the 
Palatinate, and Hesse were overrun by the imperial armies, 
which now came to the Rhine, and even beyond it, to meet 
the French. The battle of Nordlingen was of the greatest im- 
portance : it restored the emperor's ascendency in Upper Ger- 
many. The Swedes retreated toward the ocean, and France 
was compelled to abandon its merely expectant attitude and 
to take aTi active part in the war, Bernard of Weimar ob- 
tained money from France to collect an ai*my ; and during the 
following years carried the war into Alsace and the region 
of the Upper Rhine, where he fought, with varying fortunes, 
against the Bavarian general John of Werth, as well as Gallas, 
Gotz, and other imperial commanders. On the whole, the state 
of affairs was favorable to Bernard, and the French secretly 
promised to give him Alsace as an independent principality. 
The Swedes, by this time as wild and undisciplined as other 
troops, kept near the Baltic Sea. It became constantly more 
plain that the real object of the foreign allies was the con- 
quest of the frontier lands of Germany for themselves. 

§ 12. The defeat of Nordlingen detached from the Swedish 
cause its lukewarm friends. John George of Saxony had 
never taken a zealous part against the emperor, and he now 
tried to resume his original neutrality. In 1635 he concluded 
with the emperor " the separate peace of Prague." Some 
concessions w^ere made to him; the Edict of Restitution was 
suspended for forty years in Saxony, and Lausitz was ceded 
to it. Under the threat of the imperial ban, all North Ger- 
many, including Brandenburg, reluctantly acceded to this 
peace ; Hesse alone adhered to the alliance with Sweden and 
France. This separate peace was a shameful sacrifice of the 
Protestant cause, the more so that it was made under the 
pretense of German patriotism to rid Germany of the Swedes. 
It was also a victory for the house of Hapsburg. Of the 
German states. Saxony alone was benefited by it. The North 
German Pi-otestants renounced the right of levying troops 



Chap. XVIII. WAR, PESTILENCE, AND FAMINE. 431 

of their own or of forming alliances; in short, they submitted 
entirely to the emperor, and even raised an army for him, 
under the guidance of Saxony. The emperor had the advan- 
tage for a long time, but was not able to end the war. For 
it was the wretched feature of this terrible war that neither 
of the powers engaged was so superior to the other as to 
overthrow it ; and that, all money resources being exhausted, 
the ainiies supported themselves by limitless plunder. They 
obtained a pitiful and insufficient support fi'om the territory 
in dispute, as long as a blade of grass grew upon it. Bava- 
ria was wasted in 1635 by a frightful pestilence, which fol- 
lowed the marauding armies. In many places scarce a tenth 
of the people survived; and the whole land was full of mis- 
ery and destitution. In 1636 came a change of fortune. A 
Saxon and imperial army marched against the Swedes under 
Banner, in Mecklenburg and Pomerania; but was defeated 
and put to shameful flight at Wittstock, September 24. But, 
on the whole, the Swedes were unfortunate during the follow- 
ing years. William of Hesse, driven from one region to an- 
other, wandered about and died in an incursion into Eastern 
Friesland in 1637. Duke George of Brunswick-Ltineburg 
wavered between the two parties, Ferdinand II., being now 
feeble, obtained the election of his son, Ferdinand, as King 
of the Romans, December 23, 1636. 

§ 13, Bernard of Weimar was by far the most considerable 
warrior of this period. During the time of Gust av us Adol- 
phus he hoped to secure for himself a principality out of the 
Church possessions in Franconia. After the king's death and 
the defeat at Nordlingen, he found himself compelled to rely 
entirely on French assistance and to fight for French aims. 
But Bernard was a true Protestant and a German, and it 
was his plan to build up a kingdom or duchy of his own in 
Alsace and Franche Comte, and to let not an inch of German 
soil fall into French hands. He drew near his goal, by 
splendid feats of war and repeated victories, such as the 
battle of Rheinfeld, in 1638, and the capture of Breisach. He 
was on the very point of aiming a decisive blow at Austria, 
with the aid of the Swedes, who were again advancing under 
J3anner, and of pi'essing down the Danube. But the Frencli 
regarded these victories as their own ; and when Bernard 



432 



HISTORY OP^ GERMANY. 



Book IV. 



Strove to escape from their influence, he died suddenly, July 
18, 1639, at Neuberg, on the Rhine, believing himself to 
have been poisoned. He prescribed, by a formal testament, 
that the lands he possessed and his army should continue 
German ; but in vain. The army, driven by want and be- 
trayed by unfaithful generals, soon accepted French pay and 
French commanders, and thus laid open this part also of the 
Gorman frontier. 




Ferdinand III. (1637-1657). 



§ 14. The Emperor Ferdinand II. died February 15,1637, 
and was succeeded by his son, Ferdinand III. (1637-1657), 
who followed in his footsteps. But now in 1640, for the first 
time in the history of the war, there was held at Regensburg 
a regular Diet, and a general wish was expressed for peace. 
The Diet resolved to call a Peace ConsTress at Osnabriick and 



Chap. XVIII. VICTORIES OF THE SWEDES. 433 

Mtlnster ; but that body did not meet until five years later, 
Tlie princes and deputies were still assembled at Regensburg, 
when the Swedish general Banner, and the French general 
Guebriant, formed an adventurous scheme for falling sud- 
denly on the Diet, and capturing it. This rash enterprise 
might have succeeded, had not a sudden thaw made the 
roads and rivers almost impassable. George William of 
Brandenburg died December 1, 1640, and was succeeded by 
his son Frederick William, " the Great Elector," now twenty 
years of age, whose first act was to sign a treaty of neu- 
trality with the Swedes. In 1641 Banner died, and was 
succeeded by Torstenson, the boldest and ablest of the great 
generals of the school of Gustavus Adolphus, He was gouty, 
so that he commonly had to be carried on a litter ; yet he 
hurried his arms from one end of the empire to another with 
dazzling speed, and once more introduced a period of ac- 
tivity into this sluggish war. In 1642 he advanced through 
Boliemia into the heart of Austria, which no enemy had yet 
reached. On his return he defeated the imjDcrial forces under 
Piccolomini and the archduke in a great battle at Leipsic, 
November 2, 1642, in which Piccolomini lost twenty thou- 
sand men. A war now broke out between Denmark and 
Sweden. Denmark had attempted, in connection with the 
emperor, to bring about a peace, perhaps expecting thereby 
to obtain Hamburg, Torstenson therefore, in 1643, hastened 
with his army through Holstein and Schleswig, to the north- 
ern part of Jutland; while the Swedish fleet, at the same time, 
harassed Denmark so that it was compelled to make peace, 
or at least to abandon all interference with the war in Ger- 
many. An imperial army was led by Gallas to the penin- 
sula, but Torstenson in 1644 outgeneraled Gallas so skill- 
fully that it returned to Bohemia ruined without a battle. 
The next year he utterly defeated an imperial array at 
Jankow, in Bohemia, and appeared. May 6, before Briinn, and 
then near Vienna, But sickness and want of food drove 
him back. He resigned his command, retired to the enjoy- 
ment of high honors in Sweden, and General Wrangel suc- 
ceeded him. 

§ 15, The French had meanwhile been fighting, with vary- 
ing success, on the Rhine and in South Gen-many, under Ta- 

Ff 



434 HISTOKY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

renne and Conde, masters in a new art of war, Turenne was 
defeated in 1645 at Mergentheim, in Frauconia, by the impe- 
rial general Mercy and the Bavarian John of Werth ; but 
at Allerheim, on the Ries, the French, Swedes, and Hessians 
(Hesse being then a considerable militaiy power), under 
Conde, defeated the imperial and Bavarian troops. Wrangel 
and Turenne now united, and pressed Maximilian so hard 
that he signed a truce with France and Sweden, March, 
1647. But within the year he joined Austria again. In the 
summer of 1648, Turenne and Wrangel again poured their 
forces over his land as far as the Inn. The Swedes under 
Konigsmark invaded Bohemia, and in July captured the 
smaller division of Prague and the royal castle. Vienna was 
the final goal of the expedition. But Austria now yielded, 
and the long-wished-for tidings came that peace had been 
decided on at Osnabriick and Miinster. 

§ 16. There had been negotiations for peace from the year 
1640, first at Regensburg, then at Hamburg, through Dan- 
ish mediation; but Ferdinand III. did not really desire peace, 
believing that he could soon strengthen his military posi- 
tion, so as to command better terms. It was the victories 
of Torstensou in 1644 that convinced him of his error; and 
at length, in April, 1645, embassadors of the contending 
powers came together at Osnabriick and Miinster. Two 
places of meeting were necessary, because the Swedish plen- 
ipotentiaries would not enter any congress in which the 
pope was represented, and because neither the crown of 
France nor that of Sweden would yield a point of etiquette 
as to their comparative rank. The emperor, therefore, con- 
ducted the negotiations with Sweden and the German Prot- 
estants at Osnabriick, and then with France and other for- 
eign powers at Miinster. But the rigid formalities which 
became essential in every part of the proceeding, the selfish- 
ness of all parties, each bent on obtaining as much land as 
possible, and the bitter feelings of the French, sadly post- 
poned the conclusion of the peace. It was to the faithful 
labors of the Austrian embassador Trautmannsdorf that the 
completion of the extremely difficult work was due : a work 
in which every member of the states of the empire, who 
claimed their " German liberty" and '■'■jus pads et armorum,''^ 



Chap. XVIII. THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. 435 

or right of Av^ar and peace, might have his say. Finally, on 
October 24, 1648, an agreement was formally signed, but the 
conditions surrendered the fairest of the frontier lands of Ger- 
many, and not only completely broke up the empire itself, but 
exposed it to the continual admixture of foreign elements. 

§ IV. France and Sweden, first of all, demanded indemnity 
for the assistance they had given. France, after the most ar- 
rogant demands, finally contented itself with Upper and Low- 
er Alsace, hitherto Austrian. The free cities in this region, 
the chief of which was Strasburg, and some abbeys, were not 
ceded with it ; but France already had, by imperial grant, the 
local government of ten German cities there. Metz, Verdun, 
and Toul, whrch had been occupied by the French since 
1552, were now formally ceded to them. Thus France at 
one point had reached the long-desired frontier of the Rhine, 
and subjugated a German people. 

Sweden demanded all Fomerania. But since Brandenburg 
certainly had the best claim to this country, now without a 
duke, and since Frederick William, " the Great Elector," who 
leigned there from 1640, was the man to assert his rights, 
Sweden gave up Pomerania east of the Oder, receiving the 
part west of that river, with the islands of Riigen, Usedom, 
and Wollin, and Stettin, important both as a fortress and a 
trading city. As a substitute for the part of Pomerania 
given up, it obtained Wismar, and the endowment lands of 
Bremen and Verden, but without the city of Bremen, which 
was declared a city of the empire. But, in distinction from 
France, Sweden in receiving these lands did not take them 
out of the empire, but as their representative entered the im- 
perial union. Yet nothing was gained by this : Sweden had 
the control of the mouths of the great German rivers, the 
Oder, Elbe, and Weser. Besides, five millions of dollars were 
paid to the Swedish government as an indemnity. 

Switzerland and the Netherlands, which had long been in 
fact separated from the empire, were now formally recog- 
nized as independent European countries. In giving up 
Switzerland, Germany lost its sure rock fortress against at- 
tacks by the Romance nations; in the Netherlands it lost its 
means of becoming great and controlling on the sea and in 
remote regions of the world. 



436 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

§ 18. In the interior of Germany, the individual nobles were 
mostly indemnified out of secularized Church property — a 
principle which was applied on a far larger scale by Napo- 
leon, five generations later. Brandenburg, ceding part of 
Poraerania to Sweden, received as a compensation the en- 
dowments of Magdeburg, Halberstadt,Minden, and Cammin. 
Hesse-Cassel, now nnder William V.'s wise widow, the Land- 
gravine Amalie Elisabeth, for its steady support of the French 
and Swedes, obtained, by the good-will of both, Hersfeld and 
Rinteln,and the sura of 600,000 thalers. Mecklenburg gave up 
Wismar, and received Schwerin and Ratzeburg. Tlie house of 
Brunswick also received some Church estates as an indemnity. 

The house of Frederick V. had been restored in the Palati- 
nate by Oxenstiern, and now the electorate was restored to 
it; but it ceded to Bavaria the Upper Palatinate with 
Cham. An amnesty was proclaimed for all offenses against 
the empire committed during the war. 

§ 19. In matters of religion, the religious peace of Augsburg 
was re-established, so that among the estates of the empire 
Catholics and Evangelicals should have equal rights. This 
did not, however, secure religious freedom to subjects : 
against the religious oppression of their lords they had no- 
resource but emigration. But in this new religious peace 
Calvinists were included. The Edict of Restitution of 1629 
was revoked, and the year 1618 was adopted as the standard 
year for the former "Union," and January 1, 1624, for the 
Lutherans. That is, all Church property "secularized" be- 
fore that date should remain so. So much of religious free- 
dom could not, of course, be granted without an earnest pro- 
test from the Papal See. The legate, Chigi, denounced the 
negotiations at Miinster before they were finished, and on 
November 20 Pope Innocent X. issued his bull, " Zelo domus 
Dei," declaring the treaty void, and all rights claimed under 
it, however sanctioned by oaths or confirmed hereafter by 
time, invalid and worthless forever.* 

* Some of the pope's language is so emphatic as to be interesting, in view 
of the fact that this treaty remained the fundamental public law of Catholic 
as well as of Protestant Europe throughout his reign and those of thirteen 
successors. He says: " Ideoque pacta et conventa ilia ipso jure nulla, 
irrita, invalida, iniqira, injusta, damnata, reprobata, inania, viribusque et 
effectu vana omnia in perpetunm fore," etc. 



Chap. XVIII. THE EMPIRE BECOMES A SHADOW. 437 

§ 20. These conditions were on the whole favorable to in- 
telligent progress in religious matters; but the political prin- 
ciples laid down for the states of the empire were but the 
last seal of the complete disintegration of the nation. There 
was still an emperor and the external form of an empire. 
But every nobleman and city of the empire had its freedom 
confirmed anew, and the right was expressly assured to them 
of making alliances with foreign powers ("reserving the 
rights of the emperor" by an idle form), so that each prince 
was practically sovereign in his own land, and all possibility 
of holding the empire together was destroyed, 

§ 21. For a century and a half the Peace of Westphalia 
was the foundation of the legal relations among the states of 
Europe, and especially of Gennany. For the time, Germany 
Avas made helpless by it. Ever since the kings of Germany 
had acquired, at such a cost of blood, the proud title of Ro- 
man Emperor, the German empire and nation had ranked as 
the first in Christendom. Even after the disintegration of 
the empire had gone very far, in the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries, the rising power of the house of Austria, from 
which exclusively the emperors soon came to be elected, 
maintained the semblance of a great sovereignty. Up to 
the time of the Reformation, the Germans were still con- 
scious of their national dignity. But now substance and 
shadow were gone. During the Middle Ages it was Ger- 
many from which the decisions in momentous European ques- 
tions proceeded; but now every agitation elsewhere in Eu- 
rope affected Germany, was fought out on German soil and 
at German expense. The empire became the mockery of 
foreigners, and soon of the Germans themselves ; it was fit 
neither for attack nor for defense, but, decrepit and sickly, it 
was on its way to its grave. But while the empire was a 
thing of the past, the renewed life the Reformation had 
brought to the German nation, sickly as it was for the mo- 
ment, still survived. It was seeking new paths and forms, 
in order to reach again its mightiest expression. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

GERMAN CIVILIZATION FROM LUTHER TO THE PEACE OF 
WESTPHALIA. 

§ 1. Mercenary Troops. § 2. The Soldiers of the Great War. § 3. Their 
Ravages ; Cruelty and Oppression toward the Peasants. § 4. Contempo- 
rary Accounts. § 5. Conduct of the Soldiers after the Peace. Destruc- 
tion of Wealth by the War. § 6. Intelligence Promoted by the Reforma- 
tion. § 7. Universities Founded. § 8. Effect of the War on Morals and 
Intelligence. § 9. On Manners and Language. § 1 0. Superstition ; 
Witchcraft; Decline of Faith. § 11. The Peasants and the War. § 12. 
Suffering of the Cities. § 13. Their Intellectual Decline. § 14. Destruc- 
tion of Commerce. § 15. Degeneracy of the Nobles. § 16. French In- 
fluence. § 17. Life at the Courts. § 18. Influence of the War upon them. 
§ 19. Sources of Strength in Germany left by the War. 

§ 1. The Tliivty -Years' War was, perhaps, the most destruc- 
tive of which we have any record. It is estimated by sober 
historians that Germany, during the first half of the seven- 
teenth century, lost more than two thirds of its population, 
by war, and by famine and pestilence, its attendants. The 
destruction of cattle, and of movable property of every kind, 
was much greater in proportion. The ruinous results of this 
war were largely due to the character of the soldiery en- 
gaged in it. In the fifteenth century there arose a class of 
German infantry who made a trade of war, and formed a 
sort of guild of journeymen soldiers. They were held in pe- 
culiar honor by the Emperor Maximilian, who might be re- 
garded as their founder ; and under Charles V., who employed 
them in his Italian wars. They were collected and disci- 
plined by men like the strong giant Jtirge of Fronsperg — who 
was so prodigious in his strength of limb that he could over- 
turn a man or stop a running horse with the middle finger of 
his right hand, and could carry a heavy mortar — and like the 
Steward of Waldburg (p. 374), or Sebastian Schertlin (p. 388). 
The foot-soldier woi-e a steel casque on his head, with a feather 
at top, a breastplate on his body, on his legs usually only 
boots. He carried the lance or the Ions: club in his hand, or 



Chap. XIX. THE SOLDIERS OF THE GREAT WAR. 439 

in later days the heavy musket. These men were trained in 
large numbers to go through skillful mancBuvres at the word 
of command, without breaking rank and file, and to form in 
hollow square or in phalanx, bristling with spears. They 
had peculiar customs and laws of military honor ; their own 
songs, and their own free, merry spirit. Roughness and the 
passion for plunder were inseparable from their wild, travel- 
ing life; but a fresh, knightly tone — such as characterized 
especially the citizens and peasantry in the sixteenth century 
— prevailed in these bands of soldiers ; and they contributed 
largely to the renown of German valor in foreign lands. 

§ 2, It was otherwise a hundred years later, when the Thir- 
ty-Years' War began. The princes still had no standing 
armies ; and, since the original levy of the feudal vassals had 
fallen to be a mere mockery, they were compelled to rely 
entirely on mercenaries. But the pay was high — much high- 
er than in our own times — and the maintenance of even a 
moderate army transcended the resources of any individual 
prince, or even of an emperor. This suggested the frightful 
notion of making the armies sustain themselves by levying 
contributions and collecting plunder ; and thus arose such 
band captains as Christian of Brunswick, Ernest of Mansfeld, 
and, above all, Wallenstein. To raise an army now became 
a business enterprise, which often promised a royal profit. 
Generals and colonels of note offered themselves to the com- 
mander-in-chief ; they recruited their regiments, captains 
their companies, inferior officers their squads, each at his own 
cost, and therefore under the necessity of obtaining repay- 
ment during the war. From the territeries of all the princes 
now came the rabble, hungry for war and booty. Nearly 
every country in Europe sent its vilest people to seek their fort- 
unes in the German campaigns. We find contending at differ- 
ent times on the Protestant side, English, Scotch, and Dutch 
soldiers, Danes, Swedes, Finns, and even Laplanders ; while 
the imperial armies contained Walloons, Irishmen, Spaniards, 
Italians, Cossacks, Croats, Turks, and several different Sclavon- 
ic tribes. In every army there was an indescribable mixture 
of dress, habits, and languages. Many of these adventurers 
hastened from one army to the other. A sincere zeal for the 
cause he served was rarely found in the jirofessional soldier. 



440 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

Wherever there was the most disorder and the best prospect 
of plunder, thither the crowd went. Gustavus Adolphus in- 
troduced into Avar the first standing array of citizens ; but 
after his death this, too, degenerated into a band, not inferior 
to the others in barbarity. The arras used, like the age it- 
self, bore the character of transition from medieval to mod- 
ern. Instead of the casque, the soldiers gradually adopted 
the hat, adorning it, when they could afford to do so, with 
feathers. Breastplates and high boots were retained. Fire- 
arms became more general; and even the horseman carried 
large pistols in his saddle. Among the soldiers there were 
cuirassiers, or cavalry in heavy armor; dragoons, who fought 
either on horse or on foot, with pikes and muskets ; and ar- 
quebusiers, or sharpshooters. 

§ 3. When the war was protracted or the pay irregular, 
these armies inclined more and rnore to deeds of rapine. The 
last vestige of knightly custom disappeared among them. 
The soldier took refuge in "partisan warfare" for plunder. 
In the midst of war he tried to establish a sort of home life. 
The camp swarmed with the wives, mistresses, and children 
of soldiers, with market-women and wanderers. This went 
so far that, in 1648, at the end of the war, General Gronsfeld 
records that the Austrian and Bavarian army contained forty 
thousand men bearing arms and drawing soldiers' rations ; 
and besides a rabble of a hundred and forty thousand more, 
who had no rations, and could only be fed by plunder. Such 
an army was a wandering tribe ; and it was worse than the 
hordes of the great migration, because the resources of a 
higher civilization were now devoted to the service of disor- 
der and violence. The country through which it marched 
became a desert, and that in which it took up its quarters 
fared worse. Far and wide, not a living ci'eature ventured 
near the fortifications of the camp, which were thronged with 
half- savage boys and with the camp dogs. Soon hunger 
drove the soldiers out to seek booty ; their " parties " swept 
the remotest corners of the region, glad to find a village or 
hamlet which previous marches had spared. The soldier 
searched first for food and forage ; then for buried or hidden 
hoards of money or ornaments. In order to extort from the 
inhabitants such secrets, he resorted to the extremest devices 



Chap. XIX. BARBARITIES OF THE GREAT WAR. 441 

of a really devilish cruelty. Want, that made men wild, 
was associated with avarice, insolence, dissoluteness, and a 
rage for destructive and even beastly lusts. Fortunate the 
man who was slain in trying to protect his household, or even 
taken and tortured to death ; but far less fortunate the wom- 
an or young girl who, in those terrible days, had no strong 
protector against the cruel power of the soldiers. But the 
worst of all, in every respect, were the dismissed or deserted 
soldiers, turned marauders or pai'tisans on their own account 
— " border- ruffians," bushwhackers, and chicken- thieves — 
who followed the armies like the bands of gipsies, forming a 
throng of plunderers, belonging to nobody and obeying no- 
body, but seeking only for booty. Amid such outrages, the 
harassed peasants devised forms of revenge no less barbarous 
and cruel ; so that soldier and peasant, like wolf and dog, 
hated one another as natural enemies ; and when one fell into 
the other's power, no quarter was given. 

§ 4. Many accounts of these horrors are before us in the 
writings of the times. Thus Moscherosch,who called himself 
Philander of Sittewald, in his " View of the Soldier's Life," 
written during the Thirty- Years' "War, says : 

" Since none of the other prisoners would make any promise, it was a pity 
to see what cruel tortures were done to one and another of them. Both 
hands of one were tied fast behind him, and a horse-hair was drawn through 
his tongue by means of an eyed awl. Then, whenever he would move it only 
a little up and down, it gave the wretched man such tortures that he often 
cried out for death. But at every cry he had four lashes with the thong on 
his calves. I believe the fellow would gladly have killed himself to get rid 
of the pain, if he could have used his hands. Another's head was bound 
tightly with a cord containing many knots, and twisted behind, above the neck, 
with a wooden stick, drawing it tighter and tighter, till the bright blood 
streamed out of his forehead, mouth, and nose, and even his eyes, and the 
poor man looked like one possessed. I was frightened at these cruel plagues, 
and this pitiless tyranny, and begged Battrawitz to think of God and his own 
conscience, and spare the poor, harmless folk a little in his tortures. But 
he spoke to me in anger : ' If you have much pity, you can't be my friend 
long. He that has pity belongs to the devil.' " 

In the famous romance, " Simplicius Simplicissimus," writ- 
ten in 1669, by Christopher of Grinimelshausen, himself a sol- 
dier in the Thirty- Years' War, a scene of plunder is thus de- 
scribed : 



442 HISTOEY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

" The first thing these robbers did was to stall their horses, and to butcher 
the chickens and the sheep in quick succession. Then every one had his own 
special work to do, but all the work was. destruction and ruin. Then, while 
some began to boil and roast, so that it looked as if a banquet were coming, 
others stormed through the house, below and above. Others made up great 
parcels of cloth, clothing, and all sorts of house goods, as if they would set 
up a peddler's market ; but whatever they could not take along was torn up 
and destroyed. Some thrust their swoi'ds through the hay and straw ; some 
•emptied the beds of feathers, and filled them with pork, dried meats, and 
hardware, as if it were better to sleep on these. Others broke up stoves and 
windows, just as if they could predict a perpetual summer. They crushed 
the copper and tin ware, and put back the bent and broken articles ; bed- 
frames, tables, chairs, and benches were burned ; pots and dishes must all to 
pieces. They stretched the servant on the ground, gagged him with a stick 
of wood, and threw a pailful of dirty dung-yard water on him. This they 
called a Swedish drink. Thus they forced him to conduct a party to another 
place." 

The German people suffered beyond all description. But 
the extreme of suffering was perhaps found in the camps 
themselves. In 1640, in the Swedish camp near Gotha, a 
loaf of bread commanded a ducat. At such times as these 
the camps were filled with pale, hollow-eyed men, just able 
to move ; the huts with the dying and with the dead, whom 
none had strength to bury. The rabble of camp followers 
melted away, the horses perished, the very dogs were eaten, 
and no genius in a commander could keep his army in exist- 
ence. Many such scenes are on record of this Avar, but we 
must leave it to the imagination of the reader to picture the 
wide-spread horror and misery which are too shocking for 
description in detail. 

§ 5. The Peace of Westphalia was signed in October, 1648 ; 
but it was not until two years later that the land was relieved 
from the worst burdens of the war. The armies on both sides 
remained quartered on the people, until contributions could 
be levied from an exhausted and desolate country to pay them 
off. These armies gradually divided into irregular bands of 
plunderers, who moved about, with reckless throngs of fol- 
lowers, seeking villages which were yet inhabited, or the 
remnants of flocks, herds, and crops not yet utterly destroyed. 
Many who were made homeless by their ravages turned free- 
booters themselves. The first symptom of a revival in polit- 
ical life was the activity of some reigning prince or free com- 



Chap. XIX. THE LAND LEFT DESOLATE. 443 

munity in organizing guards against these banditti. Where 
an efficient police was established, families that had fled to 
the fortified cities returned to their homes ; emigrants from 
regions still unsafe settled and reclaimed the waste lands; 
and even the discharged soldiers and the rabble of camp-fol- 
lowers, bringing the plunder of the war to buy land and 
ffoods, contributed numbers to new communities that grew 
up on the ruins of the old. Little remained of the accumu- 
lated wealth of former generations ; in many regions the very 
soil had to be subdued anew, as in a wilderness ; and mean- 
while food was scarce and dear, money not to be found, and 
the exactions of the military commanders were crushing. It 
was not until 1650 that the people of Central Germany began 
to comprehend that the long time of trouble, dread, and de- 
spair — the only life which most of those then surviving had 
ever known — was past, and to rejoice in peace. But sucli 
plundering bands of warriors as took their origin from this 
war did not entirely disappear from Germany for more than a 
century afterward. The morfe familiar the student becomes 
with the facts, the less surprise will he feel at the opinion of 
German writers that the Thirty -Years' War put back the 
material progress of Germany two hundred years. 

§ 6. The moral effects of the war were no less deplorable ; 
and might have been finally ruinous to German civilization, 
but for the great impulse given to the intellectual and spirit- 
ual growth of the nation during the century which preceded 
it. To the Reformation Germany owes its first system of 
schools. Luther urged, above all things, that the forfeited 
estates of the Church should be devoted to founding schools 
and endowing pastorates. Now for the first time the art of 
reading and writing became more common among the peo- 
ple ; for the reformed doctrine made the Bible, as understood 
by the reader's own conscience, the source of religious truth. 
Thus in Saxony first, and in North Germany generally, schools 
for the people were founded, in town and country, in which 
a generation of believers in the Bible was educated. The 
teachers were commonly theologians; but in many places 
women undertook the instruction of girls. The language was 
enriched by the fine hymns of the Church, and renewed its 
youth, in word as well as in thought, from the fountain of the 



444 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

Scriptures. Luther may be called the creator of a new period 
in the development of tlie German tongue, " the new High- 
German," that in which all the great works of later days have 
been written. 

§ 7, But it was not only for the common people that schools 
were opened. A number of convents were turned into Latin 
schools, and the cities made haste to appropriate the endow- 
ments taken from the Roman Church to the foundation of 
institutions for higher education. Many of the most celebra- 
ted German gymnasia, such as Schulpforte in Thuringia, and 
the Joachimsthal and the gray convent in Berlin, date from 
the time of the Reformation. Thus learning became com- 
mon, and its first rapid growth gave support to the reformed 
cause. The universities rose into new" importance; such as 
Wittenberg, where Melanchthon (" preceptor Gerraanire," 
Germany's teacher) taught, Jena, Helmstedt, Marburg, and 
Konigsberg. By these means the intellectual life of the na- 
tion obtained a firmer basis tlian ever before. Besides, the 
sixteenth century was but little agitated by war, and was 
fruitful in the progress of comfort and prosperity among the 
people. The Reformation in Germany was far from aiming 
to destroy the merriment of life. Luther himself set an ex- 
ample in music, jest, and cheerful humor. Thus this century 
is richer than any other in wit and fun. Fischart's satirical 
poems and Hans Sachs's jests and comedies worked side by 
side with the serious spirit of the times, toward the same great 
goal of religious faith and culture. City and country were 
still full of merry festivals, and of ancient and peculiar cus- 
toms. Add to the picture the handsome, dignified, becoming 
dress of the sixteenth century, and that in architecture and 
furnishing the ancient German taste was still prevalent, and 
we may conclude that this was the most characteristic and 
poetical century in German history. 

§ 8, A hundred years later, all this wealth of a peculiar na- 
tional life is gone. The sad time approaching is heralded by 
the gathering conflict in the churches over the different con- 
fessions, which is carried on without love and without knowl- 
edge, and only opens the way for learned barbarism. It is 
further seen in the prevalence of the Roman law. It was in 
itself a good thing that this sharply defined system should 



Chap. XIX. MENTAL AND MORAL EFFECTS OF THE WAR. 445 

influence and improve the looser German law. But it now 
degenerated into pedantry and interminable scribblings, 
which made it impossible for the layman to understand and 
obtain his rights. The same learned clumsiness spread into 
every thing : it took charge of the meagre knowledge there 
was of the healing art, of the study of philology, of the ser- 
mons; and jjoets of genius arose who could compose only in 
Latin, Toward the end of the sixteenth century we find in 
multitudes of books an apprehension of sad times at hand, or 
even of the end of the world. The great German war then 
tore up all by the roots — learning, prosperity, merriment, jest, 
laughter, and music. After the war men said, " Laughing is 
too serious a matter in these times;" and, indeed, all the laugh- 
ter of that day seems to come through tears. The German 
people were like a shipwrecked man who has saved but his 
bare life, and feels no immediate want but that of the most 
urgent necessaries. Every higher disposition was extinguish- 
ed. Then appeared a stolid indifterence to misery; a false 
humility before power, which had hitherto been foreign to the 
German character. The scholar became a crawling pedant, 
who threw about crumbs of Greek and Latin, and eulogized 
the noble patron in bad German, or oftener in Latin verses, at 
weddings, baptisms, and funerals. Rigid form and shifting 
fashion took the place of custom. During the war, foreign 
and especially French attire was introduced : the ludicrously 
beribboned clothes of the men, the hoop-skirts of the women, 
periwigs, corsets, and other artificial contrivances. Fashion 
was the guide of this characterless time. 

§ 9. Besides, there now arose, mainly through the influ- 
ence of the foreign soldiery, a mixture of languages like that 
at Babel. New and strange words crept into general use. 
Thus in a few lines of the letter of Wallenstein, announcing 
to the emperor his victory over Gustavus Adolphus at Nu- 
remberg, he sprinkles his native German with words from the 
Italian, French, Spanish, and Latin languages. Some of the 
German writers of the day complained bitterly of this prac- 
tice. But it was the unavoidable result of a conflict which, 
for nearly a generation of men, made Germany the hunting- 
ground for the rabble of all nations. From the very begin- 
ning of the war the emperor's troops were a strange mixture, 



446 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

nearly all foreigners, including Irishmen and Croats, Italians 
and Turks, Walloons and Cossacks ; and for the Protestant 
cause, Scottish and Dutch adventurers, Danes, Swedes, and 
Finns, fought side by side with Germans. In the winter of 
1630, three companies of Laplanders appeared on the German 
coasts, bringing sleds loaded with skins for the Swedish 
army. The ravages of these invasions were naturally felt in 
the destruction or change, not of wealth only, but of man- 
ners and of language. 

§ 10. The German people were always much given to super- 
stitious beliefs and practices, which lay concealed at times, 
as if veneered over with culture and knowledge, but ever 
ready to break out violently in periods of agitation. The 
great war gave them wide sway and a frightful impulse. 
Leagues with the powers of hell, to get gain, or often for 
much baser purposes, were generally believed in. Magical 
arts, in part the remnants of heathen worship preserved by 
tradition, were the common talk around the camp-fires. The 
soldier of the Thirty- Years' War knew a number of means to 
make himself invulnerable, to cast bullets that would hit the 
mark, to find buried treasures, to read his own eventful fut- 
ure, and to ascertain the day and hour of his death, and the 
person who should injure or avenge him. He wore talismans 
and amulets, particular coins, plants, or written passages of 
Scripture, and had blessings or charms pronounced over his 
arms. Nor were the enlightened men of the time free from 
the influence of such superstitions. Luther himself believed, 
not only in apparitions of a personal devil, but in the efficiency 
of charms; and the progress of magical practices and terrors 
was very rapid for generations after his death. In the quiet 
life of the cities and villages, the black art had to deal with 
other things. By their alliance with the Evil One, wizards, 
but especially witches, wrought all sorts of arbitrary and 
hurtful results. They bewitched the cattle, ruined the health 
of people, or produced vermin. Yet, as was believed, they 
were themselves commonly deceived deceivers, whose art did 
them no good. But the means by which they were met were 
horrible. After the end of the fifteenth century, the trials 
of witches began ; and Protestants and Catholics alike carried 
on their judicial barbarities, which desolated whole tracts of 



Chap. XIX. A RETURN TO BARBARISM. 447 

country. Neither age nor sex nor rank was a protection 
against this persecution. Councilors and scholars were sent 
to the stake, though women were the especial objects of venge- 
ance. The number of victims who were put to the most 
painful of deaths by fire can never be known ; it amounted 
to hundreds of thousands. These barbarous outrages con- 
tinued through the sixteenth and the entire seventeenth cent- 
uries ; the witch trials in Germany did not end until the reign 
of Frederick the Great. The rack had been common in Ger- 
many since Charles V. held his tribunals of judgment there. 
Its tortures were increased, with barbarous ingenuity, to the 
utmost degree of refinement and cruelty, in extorting confes- 
sions from the accused. Life still moved on in the forms of 
the Church, and the pious hymns of Paul Gerhard and John 
Herrmann still comforted the people in their heavy sorrow. 
But among the highest classes there arose a lukewarm feeling 
toward the religion which had been used as a cloak for so 
much ci'ime, and conversions from Lutheranism to Catholicism 
were frequent. In all classes appeared, by the side of ortho- 
dox belief, an incredible coarseness, dullness, and savagery 
of disposition, and the effect of the barbarous war on charac- 
ter was noticed every where. The poets of the time lament 
the loss of faith, love, and truth, of reverence for the divine, 
and of manly steadfastness. All that the past had possessed 
of glory, of greatness in life and in literature, seemed to have 
passed even from memory. The Reformation alone remained 
as the event which could not be forgotten. In all else a breach 
was made in the life of the German people which could not 
be filled np. In nine parts out of ten, its life must begin 
anew. 

§ 11. At the beginning of the Reformation, the peasantry 
in Southern and Central Germany had risen against their op- 
pressors with spirit and energy. Though crushed in the 
"Peasants' War" (1525), yet in the course of the sixteenth 
century they again became strong, prosperous, and energetic. 
Since it was the productive class, and the source of the reve- 
nues of the princes and barons, they spared it ; and in these 
fruitful lands the long peace which followed rapidly healed 
the wounds left by the war. The peasant was indeed reduced 
to a position of more entire dependence and slavery than 



448 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

ever before, but he was on the whole comfortable, modei- 
ately intelligent, and obtained, in Protestant districts, at least, 
a fairly good training in school and church. He had his house 
neatly furnished, he had a little hoard of savings in coin, and 
valuable cattle in the pasture or stall. But the Thirty-Years' 
War annihilated all this prosperity, and it took two centuries 
afterward to bring back the village population to the state 
of civilization they had already reached at its beginning. It 
was the peasants on whom the curse of the war fell. The 
villages were laid in ashes, the cattle destroyed, the tilled 
land went to waste ; corpses lay unburied ; the village dogs 
ran wild like packs of wolves; and to the ruin directly caused 
by the war were added the miseries of famine and pestilence. 
During Jihe second half of the war a Swedish general refused 
to take his army from Pomerania to South Germany, because 
the desert country between them would cause him greater 
loss than the most bloody defeat. The effects of the war 
were perhaps felt most deeply in Silesia, Thuringia, and Meck- 
lenburg. When peace was made, there were but four villages 
left in the county of Ruppin, half as .large as the State of 
Rhode Island ; and in Priegnitz, which is larger than the 
District of Columbia, only, one preacher remained. In the 
county of Henneburg, three fourths of the families and two 
thirds of the houses were gone. Up to this day the names 
of landmarks or a solitary farm, or here and there the ruins 
of a church, mark the sites of a once prosperous village, and 
there are large tracts of country in which the villages are 
fewer and poorer to-day than they were in 1618. After the 
war there was generally nothing left but the church, and that 
often in ruins. The persevering labors of the country cler- 
2:v gathered the germs of communities again around these 
churches, and the feudal lords of the land, now unlimited in 
authority, supported the clergy in this work, because they 
could not afford to lose the labors of the people. But it was 
a long time before the barbarism which had spread from the 
army through the whole peasanti-y gave way again to seiious, 
steady labor and settled morals. 

§ 12. The cities were like islands amid the general desola- 
tion. But their condition was no longer what it had been at 
the time of the Reformation. Their life had been character- 



Chap. XIX. EUIN OF THE CITIES. 449 

ized at first by its defiant energy, and then by its cheerful com- 
fort, orderly freedom, and love of ai*t ; and so they continued 
to flourish throughout the sixteenth century. Numberless 
sumptuary laws were thought necessary by the magistrates 
or landlords, prescribing how many guests should be invited 
to baptisms, weddings, and funeral-feasts, how many dishes 
served, how many yards of cloth cut for the dress of men and 
women, or how much gold and silver ornament might be worn 
by ladies. But the great war changed all to misery. The 
smaller cities fared much like the villages. Larger ones, be- 
ing better fortified, commonly survived. But they were so 
harassed by sieges, and by levies and contributions, and so 
depopulated by famine and pestilence, that multitudes of 
houses, and even whole streets fell to utter ruin. 'T'he city 
taxes were levied almost exclusively on the land, and the 
proprietors rarely wished to rebuild.j In those days the 
mere occupancy of a city for a week by an invading army 
would often work wider ruin than a modern bombardment. 
License and plunder were universal; the mere privilege of not 
having the houses wantonly burned, or the libraries used for 
fuel, or the church-bells taken for gun-metal, was often pur- 
chased by heavy contributions. When a city was besieged, 
the neighboring country was first ravaged, and fugitives in- 
numerable fled within the walls, so that famine almost invari- 
ably came with them, and pestilence soon after. The horrors 
of the siege of Jerusalem, so often thought incredible by 
readers of Josephus, were re-enacted in many a city of Cen- 
tral Europe among the contempoi'aries of Milton. The be- 
siegers of Nordlingen captured a tower on the wall; the be- 
sieged fired it ; and when it fell into the city, famished wom- 
en seized the half-burned corpses of the enemy, and carried 
away pieces to save their children from starvation. The 
woes of a stormed city, under the wild passions of the sol- 
diery, must be left to the imagination. The statistics which 
tell of the material ruin caused by the war are frightful 
enough to the thoughtful. Berlin had but six thousand 
inhabitants after the war, about one fourth as many as be- 
fore it. The sites of two hundred houses lay deserted, many 
houses were covered with straw, and the streets were un- 
paved. In Prenzlau there were but one hundred and seven 

Gg 



450 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

inhabited houses left of nearly eight hundred ; and most of 
the cities throughout Germany were no better off. 

§ 13, But it was in the intellectual and moral results of this 
destructive period that the cities, like the whole country, 
suffered most severely and lastingly. When peace came, the 
old spirit of independence was gone ; and the princes and 
nobles of the land and their officers now gave their com- 
mands in matters which had formerly been controlled by 
the people themselves. The exclusiveness of the guilds, 
and the selfish interests of the eminent city families, which 
were all akin to one another, gave to city life a sort of 
mouldy narrowness which often made a pitiful exhibition 
of itself The revival of a city's prosperity usually depended 
upon a prince's court ; and it soon came to be only the " res- 
idences," or cities in which such a court was held, that re- 
tained the splendor and dignity of real cities. Thus the court 
took the lead in every thing. The passion for titles extended 
from it to the independent cities ; and its officers and attend- 
ants became an influential class of men, who were approached 
with reverence. The French or Italian theatre was carried 
on in great pomp, and this and the court festivals were the 
fashionable amusements ; while the popular festivals were 
neglected. The stiff monotony which seemed to prevail in 
such cities was not much enlivened by the garrisons they 
held, standing armies being now universal. Architecture en- 
tirely lost its national character. Few public buildings, such 
as churches and council-houses, were now built; and such as 
were absolutely necessary were poorly designed. Pleasure 
houses, and palaces of the princes, indeed, were built in great 
numbers, and at lavish expense ; but in the grotesque style 
which had grown up in Italy and France, and displayed the 
tastelessness of the times. The city houses were poor in ap- 
pearance and barren in art ; and the glory of the cities fell. 
Some of them escaped the great war with the freedom of the 
empire, or at least with a degree of independence, only to fall 
soon after. Thus Brunswick was conquered in 1671 by the 
dukes of the house of Welf; Magdeburg and Konigsberg by 
the Great Elector ; Miinster by its own bishop ; and Erfurt 
by the Archbishop of Mayence. Bremen had a narrow escape 
from Swedish conquest, and Hamburg from the Danes, 



Chap. XIX. DESTRUCTION OF TRADE. 45 1 

§ 14. German trade was also destroyed by the war. At 
the time of the Reformation there were still German mer- 
chants, like Fugger in Augsburg, who controlled the markets 
of the world with their money, and supplied Charles V, with 
the means of carrying on war. In Luther's time, " Fuggerei " 
was the popular word for usury. But the trade of Europe 
had already begun to find other paths. When the Mediter- 
ranean ceased to be the field of the world's commerce, Italy 
and Germany lost much of their importance as trading coun- 
tries. The changed relations of things, especially the discov- 
ery of America (1492), and of the ocean passage to India 
(1498), gave the place of that sea to the Atlantic. Lisbon 
and Antwerp became the most important centres of trade. 
Germany was no longer so important even in the distributing 
trade, since the seafaring nations could carry their wares 
from the west to all the northern coasts, which were formerly 
visited only by the Hanse league of the German cities. Aft- 
er Lisbon came under Spanish rule, it declined. The Neth- 
erlands, after they became free from Spain, were a separate 
country, and their trade was not that of Germany, but a rival 
and a hinderance to it. At the same time, England, under 
Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603), rose to a commercial equality 
with the Netherlands. Elizabeth deprived the German mer- 
chants of their privileges in the London market, and then 
the German cities of Eraden, Bremen, and Hamburg were 
soon surpassed. The Hanse league, so long the pride of the 
Northern Seas, sank into insignificance. At the time of the 
Reformation, the head of the league, Ltlbeck, was strong 
enough to set a new king, Gustavus Vasa, on the Swedish 
throne ; and under the Burgmeister Jiirgen Wullenwever, 
who had broken down the aristocracy in the city by the 
power of the guilds, entertained the hope of conquering the 
Danes, abolishing the Sound dues, and excluding the Nether- 
lands from the Baltic. But Wullenwever was overthrown 
by his fellow-citizens, and was beheaded at Brunswick as a 
" revolutionary scamp " by Henry the Younger. Gustavus 
Vasa himself threw off the mercantile influence of Liibeck, 
and the Hanse lost its ascendency in Scandinavia. The more 
Sweden extended her dominions around the Baltic Sea, the 
less influence Germany could exert there. Wallenstein form- 



452 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

ed a magnificent plan — that of reviving the Hanse, with new 
military strength, the emperor as its head. But neither the 
times nor the people were equal to its execution. Even the 
interior trade of the country was almost destroyed during 
the war. The cities on the North Sea after the war recov- 
ered sufficiently to resume a position among commercial na- 
tions ; but they had no great power to protect them. The 
cities on the Baltic, too, as Stettin, Stralsund, Rostock, and 
Wismar, again rose rapidly in trade and wealth, but mainly 
under Swedish protection. Thus the peasant, for the time, 
lost his comfort and good-cheer, and the citizen his freedom 
and enterprise. 

§ 15. The change was not confined to the lower classes of 
the German people. Knighthood was extinct, and military 
afiairs were no longer exclusively in the hands of the nobles. 
They spent their lives during the sixteenth century in their 
castles, whose useless fortifications went to decay, and on 
their estates, varying them occasionally at the summons of 
the prince by attending a Diet or a court festival, at which 
they must appear in the style and attire of knights of their 
own rank. A nobleman's estate brought him but a small 
revenue in money, though money had already become an in- 
dispensable means to power. In time of war he fitted out for 
his feudal lord his war-horse and a few armed foot-soldiers ; 
but this old-fashioned service had now fallen far behind the 
age, and brought no honor to him who rendered, and no ben- 
efit to him who received it„ It was hired vetei'ans that every 
commander wanted. In a great degree the warlike spirit of 
the German nobles died out. It was still common for younger 
sons to go into the emperor's service, or to the war against 
the Turks, or to take command of companies and regiments. 
Others of them devoted themselves to the study of Roman 
law and political science, and sought for honor and profit 
in the judicial employments of the empire, or in foreign 
embassies. But the nobles, as a class, were ignorant, and 
wasted their time in coarse amusements, and too often in de- 
bauchery. The lowest of them still made the roads danger- 
ous to travelers, or lived from hand to mouth on the hospital- 
ity of their equals by birth. 

§ 16. In short, the " nobility " of the order disappeared dur- 



Chap. XIX. THE COURTS OF THE PRINCES. 453 

ing the great war. Their estates were desolated, their peas- 
ants lost all power to pay rent or tribute. The nobles them- 
selves grew barbarous in the wild work of war, in which they 
were no whit behind the common soldiers; or else were 
tamed and humbled, their spirits broken by continued mis- 
fortunes and privations. The defiant spirit of their ancestors 
was gone. Men of noble birth thronged the courts even of 
the pettiest princes, grasping at ofiices, honoi's, and titles, and 
trying to cover the meanness and narrowness of their charac- 
ters by great airs about trifles. Paris and Versailles, as the 
high-school of depravity for the French nobility, became now 
a college for training the German youth of the same class. 
They went thither in throngs, to learn fashionable folly, pre- 
sumption, and vice. Thus the innate coarseness and rough- 
ness, which still clung to all the higher classes, was soon as- 
sociated with absurd formality and pompous manners. 

§ 17. The courts of the princes, indeed, were not invaded 
by foreign manners during the sixteenth century. In many, 
as in the electoral court of Saxony, and in those of Hesse, 
Wirtemberg, and others, the Reformation awakened a serious 
and pious disposition, and a degree of intelligence in religious 
matters which almost made theologians of the princes. In 
other courts, even the great agitations of the times were not 
enough to change the merry life which was general in all 
classes in the sixteenth century. For example, in such courts 
as that of Joachim II. of Brandenburg, there was a succession 
of hunts on a colossal scale, of banquets which commonly 
ended in utter drunkenness, of festivals, sleighing -parties, 
and the like. The revenues of such princes were rarely 
large enough for their expenses ; since the principles of econ- 
omy, by which their resources could be developed and hus- 
banded, were not yet understood. Thus the princes came 
into the hands of the money-lenders, and all their splendor 
had its reverse side, that of debt and embarrassment. At 
many of the less conspicuous courts, the old patriarchal rela- 
tion of prince and people was preserved. Thus the Countess 
of Rudolstadt was so earnest and resolute in her guardian- 
ship over her few subjects that she terrified even Alva by 
her threats to shed " princely blood for oxen's blood." 

§ 18. The great war brought unspeakable misery to the 



454 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book IV. 

princes themselves. They were often compelled as fugitives 
to abandon their people, without knowing whether a Tilly or 
a Wallenstein would ever permit them to return to their in- 
heritance; and sometimes they could scarce preserve them- 
selves and their families from want. Thus the pride of the 
princes was broken, thongh it survived in such resolute spirits 
as Bernard of Weimar, who, at an audience of Louis XIIL, 
shocked the Parisian court b}^ covering his own head as soon 
as the king, after his greeting, replaced his own hat. Need 
or the passion for land often led to unprincely conduct. 
pDuring the negotiations before the Peace of Westphalia, all 
' kinds of fawning and cringing before foreigners, of bribery 
and intrigue, were practiced to secure advantages or avoid 
ruin. After the peace, Versailles became more and more the 
pattern for all German courts, great and small. Great and 
showy festivals were held, in spite of the povei'ty of the coun- 
try. Costly buildings and artificial gardens, in the French 
style, were constructed ; titles, offices, and honors were lavish- 
ed on the throngs of attendant nobles. Titles of nobility 
were often sold, the desire for them being universal. All this 
display was the more absurd and oppressive, inasmuch as it 
did not rest, as in France, upon a great monarchy, but was 
supported by the limited resources of small states. There 
were, of course, exceptions. Several princes of Anhalt,Hesse, 
and other places, gave their aid to the neglected cause of 
learning ; some, like Ernest the Pious of Gotha, took a pater- 
nal interest in improving the condition of the people and 
land ; while others actively supported the associations which 
were formed for the cultivation of the German language, 
after Martin Opitz (1597 to 1639), the Silesian poet, intro- 
duced the Renaissance style into German literature. But 
all the scientific and political eflforts of this kind, even the 
best of them, have something petty, vain, and absurd in them. 
§ 19. In short, the German life of this period, in every as- 
pect, looks like death. The imperial unity of the nation was 
gone ; and German history itself might have ended here, but 
that two great elements of new life were in it: the spirit of 
the Reformation, and the inborn constructive vigor always 
shown in communities which share the old Saxon blood. 
The former power had swayed all minds and hearts during 



Chap. XIX. ELEMENTS OF NEW LIFE. 455 

the sixteenth century, and almost suppressed other political 
forces. In the melancholy days of the seventeenth century, 
it still taught citizens and peasants to be patient and to trust 
in God, and by the honesty and morality it inspired greatly 
mitigated the evils of the times. In the eighteenth century, 
it stimulated the wonderful impulse to research and investi- 
gation which characterized that period, and inspired its 
passion for mental freedom, elevating the whole nation in 
morals and intelligence. The characteristics of the Saxon 
race were preserved among the people east of the Elbe, in 
the marches of Brandenburg. This region had suffered no 
less than others, but it was fortunate in a series of princes 
who knew how to build up a true state, which became the 
centre and political support for the great intellectual revival 
of Germany. 



BOOK V. 

FROM THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA TO THE PEACE OF 
PARIS, 1648-1815. 



CHAPTER XX. 

DECLINE OF THE HAPSBUBG MONAECHY. 

§ 1. France Strengthened by the Thirty- Years' War. § 2. Rank and In- 
fluence of Sweden. § 3. The Condition of Austria after 1648. § 4. The 
German Empire in Europe. § 5. Aggressive Wars of Louis XIV. § 6. 
His Encroachments on Germany ; he Seizes Strasburg. § 7. The Palati- 
nate made a Desert. § 8. The Peace of Ryswick. § 9. Successes of Aus- 
tria against the Turks. § 10. Conspiracy in Hungary Suppressed. The 
Turks Defeated at Vienna. § IL Leopold's Vengeance upon the Mag- 
yars. Prince Eugene of Savoy. § 12. Causes of the War of the Spanish 
Succession. § 13. Generals of this War. Achievements of Eugene and 
Marlborough. § 14. Accession of Charles VI. Peace of Utrecht. § 15. 
The War for the Polish Crown. Treaty of Vienna. Lorraine Lost to 
Germany. § 16. The House of Hapsburg and the Empire. Last Wars 
of Eugene. § 17. The Pragmatic Sanction. Death of Charles VI. §18. 
The Empire becomes a mere Pageant. § 19. Absolute Power of the 
Princes. Their Extravagance and Oppression. § 20. Intellectual Prog- 
ress in Germany. 

§ 1. During the Thirty -Years' War, which grew from a 
civil war in Germany to be a general European struggle, the 
Austro-Spanish monarchy lost its ascendency, and Europe 
was no longer threatened with a univei'sal Catholic empire. 
Its place at the head of European monarchies was taken by 
France, which rose to prominence under Cardinal Richelieu, 
was still further strengthened by Cardinal Mazarin, and 
fully assumed its new position under Louis XIV. (1643-1715). 
These men mark the time when absolute monarchy began in 
Europe — that is, the supremacy of the uncontrolled will and 
pleasure of the king ; and this soon became the prevailing 
form of government in Europe. French took the place of 



Chap. XX. POWER AND INFLUENCE OF SWEDEN. 457 

Latin as the common language of diplomacy, and French 
manners and customs became prevalent in all cultivated so- 
ciety. France was rich in money, and possessed a strong, 
well-disciplined army. Its rulers gave their splendid though 
arbitrary patronage to art and learning ; and its eminent 
generals and statesmen upheld the influence of the country 
on the field and at the courts of princes. Thus France kept 
the foremost place in Europe through the second half of the 
seventeenth century, commonly called the age of Louis XIV. 

§ 2. Gustavus Adolphus made Sweden the second power 
in Europe, and it maintained this position until after the 
year 1700. Its possessions almost inclosed the Baltic Sea. 
By the Peace of Westphalia it acquired Lower Pomerania 
(with Stettin, Stralsund, and Riigen), Wismar, and the prin- 
cipalities of Bremen and Verden. Sweden became by these 
acquisitions a member of the empire, and afterward exer- 
cised a decisive and oppressive influence in all its afiairs. Its 
influence also extended over Denmark, Russia, and Poland, 
powerless or undeveloped countries which tried in vain to 
throw ofi" its control. Gustavus Adolphus was succeeded by 
his daughter Christina (1632-1654), not yet seven years of 
age. The government was conducted at first by a regency, 
and then by herself, until she grew weary of it, abdicated 
the throne, and set out in an adventurous spirit for France 
and Rome, to become a Catholic. But her cousin and suc- 
cessor, Charles X. (1654-1660), of the German house ofPfalz- 
Zweibrticken, fully restored Sweden to its previous impor- 
tance. Though a Protestant power, Sweden was usually al- 
lied with France, and its influence was depressing to all Ger- 
man vigor and independence. The Protestant maritime pow- 
ers, Holland and England, were busy at home, and had at 
best no affection for Germany, which was now helpless and 
of no use to them. They slowly came into alliance with the 
German states against the threatening ascendencj^ of France; 
but it was not until the next century that France was hum- 
bled in the war of the Spanish succession. 

§ 3. At the time of the Peace of Westphalia, Austria was 
much weakened, but not crushed. In Germany it still held 
a controlling influence, both by its territorial extent, and by 
the established custom of electing its ruler emperor. The 



458 



HISTORY OF GEKMANY. 



Book V. 



Austrian monarchy itself was as absolute at home as the 
French, since the independence of the nobility in Austria, 
Bohemia, and Hungary had been struck down as effectually 
as Protestantism itself. The principles of government adopt- 
ed by Ferdinand II. were not changed by his successors, Fer- 
dinand III. (1637-1657) and Leopold I. (1657-1705). Leo- 
pold was slow, destitute of enthusiasm, and Jesuitical in his 
education and character. His lono- reiffn did no service to 




Leopold 1.(1057-1705). 



the empire, though his generals won for it much military 
glory. Austria was still usually in alliance with Spain in 
all its foreign undei'takings. But this alliance was no long- 
er an offensive power. The ambition of France and of Louis 
XIV. made its energies necessary for defense. France con- 
stantly threatened the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium) 



Chap. XX. THE ENCROACHMENTS OF FRANCE. 459 

and Lorraine, whose ducal house was closely allied with the 
Hapsburgs. It also endangered the whole frontier of the 
empire along the Upper Rhine, which the King of Austria as 
emperor was bound to defend, and M'here lay his own an- 
cestral lands, among them Breisgau, with the fortress of 
Freiburg. But traces of decay were visible in both of these 
allied monarchies; the ruler in each being insignificant, and 
the people increasingly dull and ignorant. 

§ 4. After the Peace of Westphalia, the German Empire 
was not only exposed to every attack from without, but it 
offered to a stealthy foe the means of subduing it from 
within. When Leopold was elected, Louis XIV. exhausted 
his arts of intrigue and bribery in order to secure the choice 
of the Elector of Bavaria, whom he expected to make a de- 
pendent of his own. A number of German princes joined 
him in forming " the Rhenish league," and thus became his 
tools at that time, though his plan failed. But French influ- 
ence increased steadily. Some of the electors received reg- 
ular annual subsidies from Louis XIV. Austria gave the 
empire only such pi'otection as secured its own advantage. 
It Avas not now a Gernlan, but rather a European power, and 
German affairs concerned it little. Thus Germany might 
have fallen into a state of disintegration as complete as Po- 
land experienced a century afterward, had not a wise and 
strong ruler arisen in the north. This was Frederick Will- 
iam of Brandenburg, known as the Great Elector, who built 
up there a new Germany, or at least a German state which 
was to be the source of a gradual regeneration and revival 
of the German nation. 

§ 5. Louis XIV. found on his frontiers, in every direction, 
easy w^ays of acquiring territory and glory. His first war 
was, like the rest, a war for plunder, without a pretext of jus- 
tice. In 1667 he vigorously attacked the Spanish Nether- 
lands, and took possession of a large part of the country. 
Being met by "the triple alliance" of Holland, Sweden, and 
England, he accepted the peace of Aix in 1668, by which 
only the southern fortresses of the Netherlands were ceded 
to him ; but he was as indignant at the limits thus placed 
upon his ambition as Spain was at the loss of territory. In 
1672 Louis suddenly attacked the Republic of Holland, having 



460 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

won over its former allies, England and Sweden, to his side, 
and anticipating a quick and easy victory. Several German 
princes were with him, and the rest were prevented by his 
threats from aiding Holland. The Emperor Leopold had 
secretly promised not to interfere. Only one German prince 
took the field to prevent this important little state, on the 
frontier of the empire, from falling into the hands of France, 
the great Elector of Brandenburg But the Stadtholder of 
Holland, William IH. of Orange, was an excellent soldier, 
and he succeeded in checking the swift progress of Louis 
and his generals — Conde, Turenne, Luxemburg, and Vauban. 
Afterward the German Empire, and then Spain, joined in the 
war against France ; and the scene of the war was trans- 
ferred to the Rhine country, where the wounds of the Thirty- 
Years' War were still hardly healed. Louis XIV. subju- 
gated the ten cities of Alsace, which he had hitherto ruled 
only as the deputy of the emperor. Turenne, the greatest 
general of his age, laid waste the Palatinate, and defeated 
one German army after another. Yet it was the diplomatic 
cunning of France, in dividing its adversaries, that obtained 
the Peace of Nymwegen in 1678, when Louis XIV. negotia- 
ted with each hostile power separately, obtaining from Spain 
the Franche Comte and a series of places on the frontiers of 
the Netherlands, and from the German Empire, besides the 
ten cities in Alsace, the strong fortress of Freiburg in the 
Breisgau, while Lorraine remained for the time in his hands, 
§ 6. Louis XIV. then established judicial ti'ibunals, called 
Chambers of Reunion, to sit at Metz, Besanyon, Tournay, and 
Breisach, and inquire what lands had ever been dependent 
upon the bishoprics or territories now ceded to him ; and to 
reunite them all under France, on the pretext that the trea- 
ties of cession granted to him all the dependencies of the 
places ceded. In these processes, his courts summoned 
neighboring princes, and even the King of Spain, to appear 
before them. Louis retained a standing army of 140,000 men, 
although other states had dismissed their soldiers ; and thus 
he was able, under the decrees of these chambers, to take 
possession for France of a large number of districts (such as 
Vauderaont, Saarlouis, Saarbriicken, Mompelgard, and Lux- 
emburg), and of cities, villages, castles, and other places. 



Chap. XX. SEIZURE OF STRASBURG. 461 

The German Empire had neither the coherence nor the will 
to do more than make an empty protest against all this. 
While the frontiers were thus impudently encroached upon, 
the Diet at Regensburg was disputing whether the electors 
should sit on purple and the princely deputies on green vel- 
vet, and who should eat with gold knives and forks, and who 
with silver only. At length Louis XIV.'s robberies culmi- 
nated in his seizure during peace of the fine old imperial city 
of Strasburg, betrayed to him, September 30, 1681, by the 
Prince Bishop Egon of Ftirstenberg. The king himself im- 
mediately afterward entered the city in triumph, and was 
welcomed by the perfidious bishop in the words of Simeon 
before Christ : " Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart 
in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." For sixty 
years the imperial city had been dreading the avarice of 
France, and had exhausted its resources in keeping up its 
defenses. But it was alone and helpless. The most shame- 
iul means were now actively employed to win over the peo- 
ple to France and to the religion of Rome. But even this 
blow did not arouse the dead empire. A peace was made, 
which had been preceded by no war, which confirmed to 
France all that it had stolen, and obtained a few years of 
quiet. Denmark, which had been in full possession of Old- 
enburg since 1667, now threatened Holstein and Hamburg, 
relying on Louis. But the Great Elector at once formed an 
alliance with Sweden and the Duke of Brunswick, and put a 
stop to the attack. 

§ 7. Another great crime of Louis XIV. had an important 
influence in arousing against him the public opinion of Eu- 
rope. In 1598, King Henry IV., by the Edict of Nantes, 
granted to Protestants in France the same civil and religious 
rights with Catholics. On October 22, 1685, Louis XIV. 
revoked this edict, closed all Protestant places of worship, 
and undertook, against the wish of Pope Innocent XI. him- 
self, to exterminate the Reformed faith. The French Hugue- 
nots were at that time the most enterprising and successful 
manufacturers in the kingdom ; and the political folly of the 
persecution was as apparent to enlightened statesmen of 
that day as it is now ; but jealousy of the j^rosjierity of these 
industrious people was intensified by religious bigotry ; and 



462 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book T. 

half a million of the best citizens of France were driven into 
exile. They found homes in England and Holland; they 
were earnestly invited to Brandenburg by the Great Elect- 
or ; and a large part of the industrial prosperity of these 
countries in later times is due to them. In 1688 Louis 
XIV. renewed the war in the hope of securing the Palati- 
nate, when the electoral line should become extinct, for his 
brother, the Duke of Orleans, who had married the child- 
less elector's sister, Elizabeth Charlotte. He also desired 
to make William of Fiirstenberg, the brother of Egon, Arch- 
bishop of Cologne. But in the same year William III. of 
Orange became King of England, driving out his father-in- 
law, James II,, with German troops. In 1686 he had suc- 
ceeded in forming the great Augsburg league, including the 
emperor and most of the German princes, which now under- 
took to defend the frontiers of the empire. The most Chris- 
tian king then adopted the policy advocated by Louvois, of 
making the Palatinate and the region upon the middle waters 
of the Rhine a desert, which might protect his frontiers against 
the Germans. In February, 1 689, his general, Melac, blew up 
the walls of Heidelberg and its castle towers, and laid half 
the city in ashes. The cities and villages on the Bergstrasse 
shared the same fate. Such of the inhabitants as tried to 
rescue their goods were slain. Every where were found the 
corpses of wretched men frozen to death. The citizens of 
Manheim were compelled to assist in destroying their forti- 
fications, and were then driven out, hungry and naked, into 
the winter cold, and their city was burned. Baden, Franken- 
thal, Ladenburg, Kreuznach, and many other places, were 
similarly treated. The old imperial cities Worms and Spires, 
with their cathedrals, were laid in ashes, and at Spires French 
soldiers stole the ornaments of the coffins and mockingly 
scattered to the winds the dust of the German emperors. In 
the neighborhoods of Treves, Cologne, and Jiilich the peasants 
were compelled to plow down their own standing crops. 

§ 8, These outrages awakened the empire. The emperor 
formed with England, Spain, Savoy, Denmark, and most of 
the German princes, what was called " the Great Alliance ;" 
but William III. of England was again its soul, Louis XIV,, 
however, with his able generals, maintained his ascendency. 



Chap. XX. THE TURKS DEFEATED. 453 

The German troops were disunited and inactive, though Louis 
of Bavaria, their commander-in-chief, was a good general. 
At the Peace of Ryswick, October 30, 1697, the German em- 
pire could only accept the conditions prescribed by the other 
powers. France retained "the Reunions" in Alsace, includ- 
ing Saarlouis, and even Strasburg, but gave up all else, as 
Freiburg, Breisach, and Mompelgard. But as the terms were 
understood by the emperor as well as by France, the famous 
Ryswick clause was included, by which the churches were to 
stand as they had been during the hostile occupation of the 
restored districts, in violation of the right to their own 
religion guaranteed them by the Peace of Westphalia. In- 
deed, it was believed by the Protestants that Leopold L was 
actually the author of this clause, so humiliating to Germany, 
and so oppressive to his own subjects. He was at best a 
weak prince, and was easily led by the Jesuits. The Prot- 
estants, who had been every where suppressed by the French, 
lost their churches, and the Catholic service was restored in 
entirely reformed communities. It was the exhausted con- 
dition of the French exchequer that drove Louis XIV. to ac- 
cept terms on the whole so favorable to Germany ; but he 
was already looking forward to the further acquisition of the 
Spanish monarchy. In all thi*ee of his wars of conquest, Ger- 
many had been powerless in foreign affairs, and an example 
showing how open a country is to aggression when patriot- 
ism and the sense of national honor are extinct. 

§ 9. The German arms were much more successful in the 
East against the Turks than on the Rhine. After taking 
Constantinople, in 1453, the Turks overran Hungary, and 
from that time occupied the capital city, Pesth (including 
Buda). They pressed forward their frontier to Raab and 
Comorn, so that Ferdinand, Charles V.'s brother, had little 
more than the title of King of Hungary, and was soon re- 
duced to the payment of a regular tribute to the Turks. 
The danger from this source was felt throughout the period 
of the Reformation, and the wars upon this southeastei'n fron- 
tier of the empire continued almost without interruption into 
the seventeenth century. Hungary and Transylvania felt 
deeply the political and religious oppression of Austria, and 
were insecure possessions of the empire. Rebels frequently 



464 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

arose, aided by the Turks, and defying the emperor, as did 
Bethlen Gabor at the beginning of the Thirty -Years' War, 
and Ragoczy of Transylvania at its end. The Emperor Leo- 
pold (1657-1705) hated the Protestants of Hungary, who 
had obtained religious freedom anew from Ferdinand III., 
and was also provoked by the high privileges claimed by the 
Magyar nobles, so that he undertook in earnest to subdue 
Hungary. At the same time the Turks renewed their at- 
tacks. In 1663, when a great army of Turks was marching 
against Hungary and Austria, Leopold William, Margrave of 
Baden, led an imperial army, though slowly, to the emperor's 
relief; and even Louis XIV. sent a corps to assist. Sweden, 
too, and the princes of Italy, with the pope at their head, 
joined to resist the hereditary foe of Christendom. At Monte- 
cuccoli, near St. Gotthard on the Raab, on August 1, 1664, 
these troops utterly defeated the Turks, and stopped their 
advance. It was the first splendid victory for three centuries, 
and one in which almost all Christian nations had a share. 

§ 10. Yet the Emperor Leopold neglected to improve this 
great advantage, and on August 1st concluded an armistice 
for twenty years, during which Transylvania was to remain 
in Turkish hands. He seemed, indeed, to be more in dread 
of his French and Hungarian allies than of the Turks. The 
Hungarians were not protected by the armistice ; but an 
Austrian garrison was left to put down their liberties. In 
1670 Leopold detected a conspiracy of the nobles, including 
the highest names in Hungary. He at once declared the 
ancient constitution of the kingdom forfeited, and treated it 
as Ferdinand 11. had treated Bohemia. The heads of the 
nobles fell on the scaffold, and hundreds of Protestant clergy- 
,men went to serve as galley-slaves at Naples or in the 
swamps of the Lower Danube. In 1682 a new and bold lead- 
er, Emmerich of Tockely, began an insurrection, which soon 
spread throughout Hungary. He relied on the Turks for pro- 
tection, and the sultan, Mohammed IV., recognized Tockely 
as King of Hungary, on condition of his paying to the Porte 
a tribute of forty thousand sequins yearly. The grand vizier, 
Cara-Mustapha, led an army of two hundred and thirty thou- 
sand men through Hungary to Vienna, Tockely marching be- 
fore and guiding them. Vienna was poorly prepared ; but 



Chap. XX. HUNGARY RECONQUERED. 465 

John George III., the patriotic Elector of Saxony, and Max 
Emanuel of Bavaria came in person with their troops, and the 
Great Elector sent eight thousand men. Leopold, in his ex- 
tremity, left his cajaital city, and went to Passau, followed by 
the hatred and scorn of his Austrian subjects. The Turks 
appeared before Vienna July 7, and invested it — their last 
military effort on German soil. The city was defended with 
obstinate valor; citizens and students rivaled the soldiers in 
their deeds, under Riidiger of Stahi'emberg, the persistent 
and enduring governor. The Turks were not skilled in 
sieges. They had plans of the fortifications sent them from 
Paris ; but their artillery was handled by ignorant renegades, 
and proved unequal to the reduction of even these imperfect 
defenses. The siege lasted eight weeks, and then at last 
Charles of Lorraine brought up the imjaerial army, in which, 
after a long interval, the flower of the German youth was 
once more united. John Sobieski, the pious and heroic King 
of Poland, catne with Charles. The two armies met on Sep- 
tember 13, at Kahlenberg, whence rockets, answered from 
the spire of St. Stephen's, had already announced the coming 
relief to the city of Vienna. A glorious victory was obtain- 
ed ; the Turkish camp, with its rich booty, was taken, the 
city was delivered, and the grand vizier received the bow- 
string from the sultan. Yet Leopold debated how far it be- 
came his rank and position to thank his deliverers. The vic- 
tors disagreed and parted, and the Elector of Saxony went 
home with the feeling that he had been deeply slighted. 

§ 11. Austria at once went on with the work of conquering 
Hungary. In 1686, Charles of Lorraine, with an army con- 
taining, besides volunteers from every Christian nation, the 
eight thousand Brandenburgers sent by the Great Elector, 
retook Ofen (Buda), The next year the emperor took a ter- 
rible vengeance on the Magyars, General Caraffa held in 
his name a court, to try all those suspected of dealing with 
Tockely. It was called the butcher's bench of Eperies. Here 
multitudes, npon mere suspicion, were imprisoned and horri- 
bly tortured, and large numbers of them put to death. Fi- 
nally, at the Diet of Presburg, August 12, 1687, the Hunga- 
rians yielded up their right to elect their king, and declared 
the crown of Hungary hereditary in the Hapsburg (male) 

He 



466 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

line, on condition that every king at his coronation should 
confirm the ancient liberties of the nation. But the pride of 
the Magyar nobles was broken; every vestige of religious 
freedom was taken away, and Hungary was closely reunited 
to the Austrian monarchy, which thus grew stronger in the 
East, while the empire was steadily losing ground in the 
West. Among Leopold's generals, Eugene of Savoy was 
already eminent. He was a Frenchman, grand-nephew of 
Cardinal Mazarin. He was very small in stature, and when 
he applied to Louis XIV. for a regiment, was mocked by the 
king, who called him " the little abbot." He then came to 
Leopold to fight against the Turks. He distinguished him- 
self greatly, was made a general, and in the battle of Zenta 
on the Theiss, September 11, 1697, displayed for the first 
time his matured genius. The sultan in person commanded 
his great army of Turks, but it was almost entirely cut to 
pieces or driven into the river by the Austrians and their 
German allies. This victory secured for Austria the glorious 
treaty of Carlowitz, January 26, 1699, by which the Sublime 
Porte yielded back all Hungary to Leopold, and agreed to 
an armistice foV twenty-five years. 

§ 12. The house of Hapsburg in Spain became extinct at 
the death of Charles H. Louis XIV. had formed a plan for 
securing the succession to his own family of Bourbon. But 
his claims were opposed by the Austrian Hapsburgs, the 
kindred and heirs of the extinct dynasty. Louis XIV., in- 
deed, was the son of a Spanish princess, and had married a 
sister of Charles II. Leopold was connected with Spain in 
the same way ; but the right of inheritance had been ex- 
pressly reserved to the princesses married into the house of 
Austria, and renounced in behalf of those who married the 
kings of France. Moreover, Leopold was a descendant of 
Charles V.'s brother Ferdinand, and could thus claim to 
represent the male line of the house of Hapsburg. William 
III. of England proposed a division. But Charles II., un- 
willing to see the great Spanish monarchy dismembered, 
made a will, constituting Joseph Ferdinand, son of Max 
Emanuel of Bavaria, and grandson of Leopold and of his 
(Charles II.'s) sister, his sole heir. Joseph Ferdinand died 
in 1699, before Charles II. himself, leaving the whole ques- 



Chap. XX. WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 467 

tion still open. Austria and France again bestirred them- 
selves. Leopold endeavored to secure the selection of his 
second son, Charles, Louis that of his second grandson, Philip 
of Anjou, as heir; each avoiding the appearance of desiring 
to unite Spain with his own crown. Austria seemed to have 
succeeded ; but at last the desire of Charles IL to keep Spain 
undivided prevailed, and at his death, November 1,1700, 
Piiilip of Anjou was made heir to the whole monarchy, in- 
cluding Spain, Belgium, Milan, Sardinia, Naples, and Sicily, 
nearly all of America, and extensive tracts in Asia. Louis 
XIV. accepted the will, but Austria, though at first with- 
out allies, protested against it. In Germany, however, the 
emperor persuaded Prussia, now a kingdom, to join him, 
and Hanover and Saxony; and nearly the whole empire 
soon followed their example. But Max Emanuel, Elector of 
Bavaria, and his brother Joseph Clemens, Archbishop of 
Cologne, were induced by Louis XIV.'s promises to take the 
side of France. In Italy the dukes of Savoy and Mantua 
supported France. In the autumn, England and Holland, 
the two leading maritime powers, uneasy at the growing 
strength of France, formed an alliance with the emperor. 
The war which followed is called the War of the Spanish Suc- 
cession, and lasted from 1701 till 1713. 

§ 13. At the beginning of this war, two great names ap- 
pear — Prince Eugene of Savoy and the ambitious English 
general, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough : two men of 
the very highest rank of military genius. Owing to the 
modesty of Eugene, they acted in complete harmony, and 
won victory after victory over France, already exhausted by 
previous conflicts. The commander of the imperial forces, 
Lewis, Margrave of Baden, was also a man of ability, 
but was much hampered by the condition of the empire. 
The war began in 1701 with a brilliant march by Eugene 
across the Alps, and a victory over the French in Northern 
Italy. Marlborough, who exercised a great influence over 
the government of Queen Anne in England (1702-1714), 
landed in the Netherlands, and drove the French before him. 
The French were more successful against the army of the 
empire, and took Breisach, Augsburg, and Landaw. In 1703, 
under Vendome, they pressed forward from Italy to the Ty- 



468 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

rol, in order to join Max Emanuel, who invaded the Tyrol 
from the north. But the Tyrolese resisted Loth armies val- 
iantly, and inflicted immense losses on them in their narrow 
passes and valleys. The elector had a narrow escape with 
his life. On the other hand, there arose, a few years later, a 
popular revolt in the Tyrol against the Austrians, led by 
some priests and a student of Ingolstadt, which was sup- 
pressed with great difficulty. Such events proved that nei- 
ther the ancient vigor of the Germans nor the mutual hatred 
of the several sections of the race had entirely perished. In 
1704, Eugene and Marlborough joined their forces in Southern 
Germany ; Marlborough, with an army chiefly of Germans, 
and Lewis of Baden, defeated the French and Bavarians at 
Schellenberg, n^ar Donauwerth, on July 2 ; and then Marl- 
borough and Eugene defeated the PVencli general Tallard at 
HOchstadt (or Blenheim), August 13. This was a frightful 
battle, in which all the troops fought obstinately. It gave 
Bavaria entirely to the allies. The next year, 1705, Eugene 
went to Italy, to protect the Duke of Savoy, who had come 
over to the allies; and on September 7, 1706, he gained a 
victory at Turin over the French, who had invested the city. 
The enemy's intrenchments were first stormed by Prussian 
troops under Leopold of Dessau. From this time the allies 
retained possession of Italy, and Eugene in one easy cani- 
jjaign conquered the entire kingdom of Naples for the em- 
peror. England captured Gibraltar in 1704. In 1706 Marl- 
borough defeated the French at Ramillies, in the Netherlands 
(May 23), and in 1708 the two great generals again joined 
their forces in the Netherlands to prosecute the war together. 
They defeated Vendome and the Duke of Burgundy at Ou- 
denarde, and in 1709 at Malplaquet defeated Villars. The 
Netherlands were now in their power, and the road to Paris 
was open to them. Louis XIV. found France utterly ex- 
hausted, famine and misery having succeeded to luxury and 
splendor. From the year 1708 he had been offering to make 
peace, giving up all the Spanish inheritance except Naples 
and Sicily; which he would reserve for his grandson. In 
1709 he was ready to give up these also, and even to restore 
all his conquests in Alsace and Lorraine to the German Em- 
pire. But the allies were presumptuous in their demands, 



Chap. XX. 



DEATH OF LEOPOLD L 



469 



requiring Louis XIV. himself to drive his grandson from the 
Spanish throne. It seemed that France would be subjected 
to the dee^jest humiliation, but a sudden change took place 
in the situation. 

§ 14. In England, Marlborough's party lost its influence 
over the queen and the government. A new ministry was 
formed, which first embarrassed the general and then recalled 
him; and the war was prosecuted without energy or zeal. 
The old Emperor Leopold died of dropsy in Austria, May 5, 
1705, and was succeeded by his son, Joseph I. (1 705-17 11), 
now in his twenty-seventh year : a man of broad and tolerant 
views, who sustained Prince Eugene in his campaigns. But 
he died of the small-pox, or, as many said, of poison, April 
17, 1711, leaving no son ; and his brother, Charles VI., who 




Joseph I. (1T05-1711). 



4V0 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

now came to the throne (1 7 11-1 740), was the Austrian can- 
didate for the Spanish crown. As he was ah-eady possessed 
of all Austria, he seemed likely now to acquire a greater em- 
pire than that of Charles V. ; and the allies could not wish 
to build up such a power. Accordingly England opened ne- 
gotiations which led to the Peace of Utrecht, April 11, 1713, 
between England, Holland, Portugal, Prussia, and Savoy on 
one side, and France and Spain on the other. It recognized 
Louis XIV.'s grandson Philip as king of Spain, on condition 
of forever renouncing all claims to the crown of France for 
himself and his descendants. From that time the Bourbon 
dynasty was established in Spain, and remained in close alli- 
ance with France almost throughout the eighteenth century. 
Each of the nations concerned took care to secure what they 
could for themselves. Thus England obtained important 
commercial concessions, besides Gibraltar and Minorca, and 
in America, Hudson's Bay and Strait, the island of New- 
foundland, and Nova Scotia. Prussia obtained the Spanish 
province of Guelders, and was recognized by France as a 
kingdom. Savoy also was acknowledged as a kingdom, and 
received the addition of Sicily. Austria now attempted to 
carry on the war alone, but without success. On March 7, 
1714, the treaty of Rastatt was made with Austria, and was 
followed September 7 by that of Baden with the German 
Empire. Austria obtained important accessions of territory: 
the Netherlands, the Duchy of Milan, Sardinia, and the king- 
dom of Naples were promised it by the treaty. In 1720 
Austria ceded Sardinia to Savoy in exchange for Sicily, and 
Savoy was thenceforth called the kingdom of Sardinia. 

§ 15. In 1733 Charles VI. entered upon another unfortunate 
war with France, in defense of the claim of Augustus III., 
Elector of Saxony, to the crown of Poland. Augustus was 
supported also by Russia, and secured his throne ; but Ger- 
many suffered much by the treaty of peace concluded at 
Vienna, October 3, 1735. Austria gave back the united king- 
dom of the two Sicilies to Spain. Not even the fortress of 
Landau was restored to the German Empire ; although it re- 
covered Freiburg, Kehl, and Alt-Breisach, on the right bank 
of the Rhine, which had been lost again in the course of 
the war. The emperor was more eager for acquisitions in 



Chap. XX. THE BALANCE OF POWER IN EUROPE. 



471 




Charles VI. (1711-1740). 

Italy than for the recovery by the empire of Alsace and 
Strasburg. By the War of the Spanish Succession France 
lost the ascendency in Europe, as the Austro-Spanish Empire 
had lost it by the Thirty -Yeais' War. It was now that the 
arrangement called "the balance of power" in Europe was 
established, and its preservation has ever since been a con- 
trolling object in diplomacy. But it was the loss of German 
soil, not that of foreign conquests by the empire, that made 
this treaty of Vienna a lasting sorrow and shame to Germany. 
Stanislaus Lescinsky, the candidate of France for the Polish 
crown, renounced his claims in favor of Augustus III.; and 
was compensated by this treaty, by consent of the Emperor 
Charles VI., with the duchies of Lorraine and Bar, on condition 
that they should fall to France at his death. Lescinsky, 



472 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book Y. 

however, ceded them to France at once, Lorraine had been 
occupied by French troops during the campaign of 1734, and 
the emperor was not able to dislodge them ; but the treaty 
gave the sanction of law to this seizure of a large German 
district by a foreign military power, and Lorraine was utterly 
lost to Germany until the revival of the empire in 1871. 

§ 16, Charles VL was now monarch over vast regions, only 
a small proportion of which lay within the German Empire, 
His subjects were of manifold nationalities and customs, 
with varied forms of government and degrees of civilization. 
His monarchy was magnificent in its outward appearance, 
but since the supjjression of Protestantism the intellectual 
life of his dominions was crushed. His German subjects, in 
Austria, Tyrol, and Styria, were brought into close union 
with foreign tribes, on a lower grade of life; and from the time 
of the Thirty -Years' War and the ascendency of Jesuitism, 
under Ferdinand H. and Leopold, they were diligently kei^t 
apart from the life of Germany at large. The empire was 
regarded as a foreign land. Yet the house of Hapsburg still 
retained the imperial crown, and was thus indissolubly con- 
nected with Germany ; and Vienna was still the magnificent 
imperial city, where the German, Italian, Sclavonic, and 
Hungarian nobility found a central and common court. The 
sons of the German nobles still aspired to enter the emperor's 
service, which still, in spite of the financial weakness of the 
empire, ofiered the young nobleman honor, fame, and pleasure. 
But the resources of these fair and naturally rich countries 
remained undeveloped and unused ; and there was no effort 
made by the government to arouse to something of their former 
intellectual activity the almost slumbering people. Charles 
VL was from his youth serious, reserved, and melancholy, 
and entirely under the influence of favorites who had fol- 
lowed him from Spain. Great deeds were rare. In 1714 
the Turks made war on Venice, and Prince Eugene, now the 
first statesman as well as the first warrior of Austria, thought 
it time to recover from them the last of their conquests 
in Hungary, He fully accomplished this, by the battle of 
Peterwardein, August 5, 1716, and the taking of Belgrade, 
August 16, 1717; and in July of the next year the Peace of 
Passarowitz was concluded, on terms the most advantasjeous 



Chap. XX. THE SHADOW OF THE EMPIRE. 473 

for Austria. The famous capture of the city and fortress of 
Belgrade was the last grand deed of arms of Prince Eugene, 
and was celebrated then and long after by \he whole German 
people in festival and song. Eugene died at Vienna, April 
21, 1736 ; and the emperor, then in alliance with Russia, again 
took up arms against the Turks. But after a war of three 
years, by the shameful Peace of Belgrade in 1739, he gave 
back to the Turks not only Belgrade, but the whole southern 
frontier which Eugene had conquered. 

§ 17. Charles VI. died October 20, 1740, after a reign of 
twenty-nine years. With him expired the male line of the 
house of Hapsburg, which j^ad been foremost in Germany 
for nearly five hundred years, and had given sixteen sover- 
eigns to the empire. The political eifort of his reign was to 
secure the possessions of his family to his only daughter, 
Maria Thei'esa, in spite of the traditional Salic law exclud- 
ing females from the throne. By large concessions to each 
of the great powers, Charles succeeded, during his life, in ob- 
taining successively the adhesion of Spain, Prussia, Russia, 
Great Britain, Holland, the Empire, Denmark, Sardinia, and 
France to his " Pragmatic Sanction," which designated Maria 
Theresa as the heir to the Austrian dominions. The Aus- 
trian estates, and those of Bohemia and Hungary, also ac- 
cepted this disposition of their kingdoms; and upon Charles's 
death, Maria Theresa ascended the throne, with no resistance 
save a Bavarian protest, and associated her husband, Francis 
Stephen of Lorraine, with herself in the government. 

§ 18. The German Empire no longer exercised an important 
influence among nations ; but most of the German people 
still regarded it as an element in their own political life. The 
Peace of Westphalia had practically secured the local sover- 
eignty of the states of the empire against the emperor. His 
crown was scarcely more than an honorary decoration, and 
brought him, from the entire empire, a revenue of about 
13,000 florins (|5000). The general arrangements by Avhich 
it had been designed to form a sort of constitution for the 
empire, at the end of the fifteenth century, were utterly neg- 
lected. The Imperial Chamber of Justice was removed from 
Spires, when that city was destroyed, to Wetzlar. It still 
assumed to be a supreme court for all the states and mem- 



474 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

bers of the empire ; but its processes were wrapped in tedi- 
ous and endless folds of form, and ceremony, so that deci- 
sions were obtained but rarely, and were then not respected. 
The emperor had established at Vienna a court, whose mem- 
bers were appointed by themselves. It was designed to sus- 
tain the emperor's influence injudicial matters; but it had 
fallen into worse repute than the imperial chamber for slow- 
ness and corruption. The general Diets of the empire, which 
had been magnificent assemblies, at which the emperor and 
the great princes appeared in person, were soon after the 
Peace of Westphalia changed into a permanent Diet, held at 
Regensburg. Its session began January 20, 1663. The emper- 
or and the princes merely sent their embassadors, who had to 
refer constantly to their chiefs for instructions, so that there 
could be no prompt decision in any case. The Diet spent its 
time mainly in discussing the vainest formalities. The cir- 
cles were still preserved in name, but had little significance 
left. Austria, which formed a distinct circle, kept itself en- 
tirely apart. Out of the circle of Upper Saxony arose the 
new power of Brandenburg and Prussia, which also had ex- 
tensive possessioiis in the circles of Westphalia and Lower 
Saxony, and exercised a commanding influence there. Fred- 
erick Augustus, Elector of Saxony, in 1697 ascended the 
throne of Poland asA-ugustus 11. (the Strong), and regarded 
himself as one of the monarchs of Europe. In 1692, Ernest 
Augustus of Hanover, having united in himself most of the 
long -scattered possessions of the house of Welf, obtained 
from Leopold I., in spite of the jealousy and opposition 
of other German princes, the dignity of Elector, and became 
the ninth member of the college. His son, George I., was 
called to the throne of England in 1714. Thus the powers 
which obtained an important position in the European sys- 
tem, and maintained armies of their own, outgrew the old 
limits. of the circles. In the southwestern part of the em- 
pire, where there were no princes of commanding power, 
the " border circles " of the Rhine — Suabia, Bavaria, and 
Franconia^were still of some impoi-tance. They formed, 
above all, the army of the emnire, whose poverty, however, 
which almost amounted to "looped and windowed ragged- 
ness," became a mockery. The importance of Germany in 



Chap. XX. EXTRAVAGANCE OF THE PRIXCES. 4-75 

international affairs, therefore, now rested entirely with the 
large countries, which cared nothing for the empire. 

§ 19. But in all the territories, small and great alike, the 
power of the princes was now unlimited. The Diet of 1654 
took almost entirely away the power which the estates had 
enjoyed under each territorial lord of levying supplies. In 
many of the territories the estates then disappeared, while 
in others they sank to be mere tools of the princes. Most 
of the German princes had a French education, and imitated 
Louis XIV., not only in his resolve to be absolute, but in the 
splendor of his court, and in its tone and tastes. They often 
even excelled that court in its immorality, Augustus II. of 
Saxony is an example at once of monstrous extravagance and 
oppression. Dresden, his capital, was adorned with churches, 
palaces, theatres, and art collections, in the most splendid 
style of Versailles. Festivals were prolonged for months ; 
tournaments, comedies, operas, races, and masquerades were 
planned with all imaginable accompaniments ; and the king 
attended them wearing jewels, or a coat with diamond but- 
tons valued at millions of dollars. The same tendencies pre- 
vailed elsewhere. When George I. of Hanover married his 
daughter, Sophia Dorothea, to the son of King Frederick I. 
of Prussia, her journey to Berlin required at each post in 
Hanover a relay of five hundred and twenty horses. She 
was met at the Prussian frontier by a deputation with three 
hundred and fifty horses. After the electors of Hanover be- 
came kings of England, they did much for their favorite Ger- 
man state, building fine palaces there, and founding the Uni- 
versity of Gottingen. The extravagance of the princes was 
a heavy burden to the large countries, but it was a cruel and 
crushing weight upon smaller ones, like Hesse and Wirtem- 
berg, where the rulers sometimes went to still more absurd 
lengths. The people groaned under the arbitrary oppression 
of oflicers, most of whom had bought their oflfices, and under 
taxes which were beyond their resources ; while the wild 
beasts, which were recklessly preserved as game, laid waste 
the poor man's fields. The spiritual lords were commonly 
no less extravagant and reckless than the rest. 

§ 20. Thus the internal condition of Germany was deplor- 
able. The prosperity of the citizens and the peasantry re- 



476 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

vived very slowly, and in these hard times they had nothing 
to do but to endure and pay. They, too, almost wholly lost 
their patriotism, their interest in the welfare of the empire as 
a whole, and had left them only a severe and formal though 
generally honorable family life, a rigid creed, and a very nar- 
row culture. Yet, just as German valor renewed its fame in 
the victories of Eugene, of the Great Elector, and " the Old 
Dessauer," so the nation had scholars and thinkers who stood 
foremost in European repntation. Such were Leibnitz (1646- 
1716), the faithful friend and servant of the Welfs of Han- 
over; Thomasius (1655-1728), the founder of the University 
of Halle, and the first to introduce the German language into 
university instruction; and Wolf (1679-1754), who carried 
forward the work of Thomasius, and interpreted Leibnitz's 
thoughts to wider circles of men. During this time the Prot- 
estants were still oppressed in Catholic districts, as in Augs- 
burg, and the blind zeal of the Lutherans against the Re- 
formed fixith continued to characterize certain universities, 
as that of Wittenberg. But a kinder, gentler Christianity 
began to show itself. Philip Jacob Spener (1635-1705) was 
foremost in this . movement, which inspired Francke (died 
1727), the great founder of the orphan asylum at Halle. The 
pietistic principles, as they were called, were extended among 
the higher classes, even among the nobles and princes of Ger- 
many, by Count Zinzendorf (died 1760), the founder of the 
Herrnhut communities. Such facts as these show that the 
intellectual character of the nation wa« now beginning to 
find a broader and freer development than before. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE RISE AND RAPID GROWTH OF PRUSSIA. 

§ 1. Brandenburg and Prussia. § 2. Elector George William. § 3. Ac- 
cession of Frederick William, the Great Elector. § 4. He Raises an Army. 
§ 5. His Administration in New Territories. § 6. His Wars against 
Charles X. , and Alliance with Him. § 7. He makes himself Absolute in 
Prussia. § 8. War against France and Sweden. § 9. He Defeats the 
Swedes at Fehrbellin. § 10. Drives them out of Pomerania. § 11. Loses 
his Conquests by Treaty. § 12. Fails to Obtain Liegnitz ; Naval Expedi- 
tions and Colonies. § 13. He Welcomes the French Protestants to Prussia. 
His Death. § l-l. His Character and Achievements. § 15. Frederick 
in. of Brandenburg Extends his Dominion. § 16. Becomes "King in 
Prussia," as Frederick I. § 17. His Policy at Home. § 18. Frederick 
William I., his Character and Policy. § 19. His Absolutism; his Army. 
§ 20. War against Charles XII. of Sweden. The Empress Catharine. 
§ 21. End of the War and Death of Charles XII. § 22. War of the Pol- 
ish Succession. Death of Frederick William I. § 23. Political Condition 
of the Empire. 

§ 1. From the time of the Thirty- Years' War, it was in the 
northeastern part of the okl empire that German life showed 
most vigor. Brandenburg had here grown up into a state 
of importance, out of the marches of Saxony and the colonies 
of the various North German states. The house of Hohen- 
zollern obtained possession of this district in 1415, when it 
was nearly ruined, and patiently built it up and strengthened 
it. For a time, indeed, no progress was made. After the 
bold achievements of Frederick I., Frederick II., and Albert- 
Achilles, none of their successors distinguished himself like 
them, though there was not among them a worthless or in- 
ferior prince. From the time of the Reformation, the Ho- 
henzollerns also held the duchy of Prussia, formerly the land 
of the German order of knights, and laid claim, on this 
ground, to districts on the Rhine and to the territories of 
Cleves. In 1614 Cleves, and in 1618 Prussia, fell to the 
house of Brandenburg ; so that they were united in the 
hands of the Elector Sigismund (1608-1619), who embraced 
the Calvinistic faith, and thus connected himself closely with 



478 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

the powers which opposed the Hapsburg supremacy. Thus, 
while his ancestors had for a century been controlled and 
embarrassed by their relations to the emperor, he was now 
able to pursue an independent course. 

§ 2. When George William (1619-1640) succeeded his fa- 
ther, Brandenburg was too large and powerful to remain 
neutral in the great war. But the elector was hampered 
by the division of his lands, and their distance from one 
another, b}^ the distrust his Lutheran subjects felt toward 
him and his Reformed faith, and by the want of interest taken 
in his plans by his states, which, even in extreme danger, 
were hardly ready to grant the supplies necessary for the 
most meagre preparations. He was thus driven to act on a 
petty scale, and this tendency was sustained by his Catholic 
counselor, Adam of Schwarzenburg. Thus, after the battle 
at the White Mountain, the duchy of Jagerndorf was taken 
by the emperor from George the Pious, uncle of George 
William, who could only look on and see his house despoiled. 
This halting policy injured his lands more than a decided 
course on either side. Mansfeld,Wallenstein, and the Swedes 
successively wasted them. After George William acceded 
to the separate Peace of Prague, the Swedes were his ene- 
mies, while he was compelled to receive into his fortresses 
garrisons which had taken the oath of service to the em- 
peror, and his territories were constantly traversed by the 
contending armies. Finally, half in despair, he left the 
marches, which had almost been made a desert, and repaired 
to Prussia, where the ravages of war had been less ten-ible. 
Here he died, December 1, 1640. 

• § 3. His son, Frederick AVilliam, " the Great Elector," was 
but twenty years of age when his father died. He was the 
founder of the new great power in Germany. The condition 
of his country was bad enough when he came to the throne ; 
if that can be called a country which consisted of three de- 
tached territoiies — Cleves, Brandenburg, and Prussia. The 
terrible pressure of the war was for the time the worst feat- 
ure of the case. But Frederick William, though so young, 
was the man for the emergency. His early youth had been 
spent amid the dangers of war, to escape which the elector's 
family had been often hun-ied from one castle to another. 



Chap. XXI. FREDERICK WILLIAM OF BRANDENBURG. 479 

His father had sent him, when a lad, to the court of Holland, 
under the protection of Frederick Henry, the great warrior 
and statesman, son of William of Orange. He was strong 
enough to shun the temptations and pleasures of the Hague 
with the same firmness with which he met the dangers of 
war, as at the siege of Breda; and his character was greatly 
fortified here. Besides, he became familiar with the work- 
ings of the little state of Holland, which religious and civil 
freedom, law and order at home, trade, and the wise cultiva- 
tion especially of ocean commerce, had made unquestionably 
one of the foremost nations of the world. This lesson was 
one which the wise young man nev.er forgot. He was soon 
to become heir to Prussia, with its sea-coast ; to Pomerania, 
with the mouths of the Oder ; to the sandy and marshy lands 
of the marches, which, however inferior in fertility to the rich 
tracts of Austria, might still be made rich by persistent dili- 
gence. The prince brought home large views and projects, 
and attended his father on his journey to Prussia, and until 
his death. 

§ 4. The young elector found his first w^ork, amid the mis- 
eries of the war, in forming a standing army : the means by 
which Sweden and Austria had grown great. Indeed, every 
important power at that time aimed to maintain such an 
army. Frederick Willif^m began with a very small force. 
He was first served by Colonel vou Burgsdorf, and then by 
General von Spaer ; but as his army grew. Marshal von Derf- 
fling became its hero and leader. This soldier was originally 
a journeyman tailor, but gave up his yard-stick for a sword, 
and was schooled in the Swedish army. In order to carry 
on his work, Frederick William wished to be free from an- 
noyance by the Swedes, so that he made a truce with them 
in 1642, without regard to the emperor's displeasure; and 
remained neutral to the end of the great war, 

§ 5. By the Peace of Westphalia the Swedes obtained 
Lower Pomerania with the islands, and Frederick William 
only Upper Pomerania, though the inheritance of both bad 
been assured to him at the death of Bogislaw XIV. in 1637. 
As a compensation, he received the duchy of Magdebui'g, 
with Halberstadt, and the bishoprics of Minden and Camin. 
These were fine territories; but he still longed for Stettin, 



480 HISTOEY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

the mouths of the Oder, and the coasts of the Baltic, desiring 
to possess a navy. His next work was to restore the deso- 
lated land to prosperity. The elector promoted this by im- 
proving the system of taxation. He substituted for the for- 
mer taxes an excise upon all commodities, foreign or domes- 
tic, consumed in the country. This tax was easier to col- 
lect, and all classes contributed to pay it. It increased the 
income of the state gradually, from $280,000 of our money 
to more than a million, and yet the country rapidly rose to 
prosperity again. The elector, by a wise economy in using 
his resources, soon had money to increase his army, which 
at the close of his reign contained 27,000 men. Nor was it 
long before its usefulness to him became evident. 

>; 6. Queen Christina of Sweden, daughter of Gustavus 
Adolphus, abdicated in 1654. Her cousin, Charles X., suc- 
ceeded her ; but John Casimir, King of Poland, the son of 
Sigismund, refused to acknowledge him. War was declared 
between the two powers, one on each side of Frederick Will- 
iam. He endeavored at first to mediate for peace. But 
the Swedes, with the presumption of habitual conquerors, 
marched through his territories — Pomerania and Neumark; 
and Charles X. soon occupied all Poland, and then pressed 
hard upon the elector, who had tried to defend his duchy of 
Prussia, in his second capital city of Konigsberg. But John 
Casimir soon reconquered his land, with the help of the em- 
peror, and Charles X. then offered Frederick William peace 
and an alliance. The elector saw his opportunity to throw 
off the feudal supremacy of Poland, and he earnestly em- 
braced the S^\;edish cause. In the three-days' battle at War- 
saw, July 28, 29, and 30, 1656, the raw troops of Branden- 
burg fought with equal credit beside the veterans of Swe- 
den, and with them won a great victory. Charles X., by 
the convention of Labiau in 1656, promised to Frederick 
William Prussia, including the bishopric of Ermeland, as an 
independent and sovereign duchy. The King of Poland, 
who had threatened to send the elector to a place where 
neither sun nor moon could shine on him, was now forced to 
negotiate, and to offer the same terms as Sweden. The elect- 
or was too crafty a statesman not to make good use of his 
position between the two powers. He formed an alliance 



Chap. XXI. THE GREAT ELECTOR ACQUIRES PRUSSIA. 481 

with the emperor, and his vote in 1657 secured to Leopold 
the election, against the wiles of France. He also joined Po- 
land again, and obtained by the treaty ofWechlau the same 
guarantee for Prussia which Sweden had offered. Charles 
X. was now attacked also by Holland and Denmark, the lat- 
ter country wishing to secure Bremen and Verden. He ex- 
hibited the most splendid military genius in the war: expell- 
ed the Danes from Holsteiu, Schleswig, and Jutland, and in 
1658 even crossed the frozen strait of Fiinen into Zealand, 
and imposed on Denmark the Peace of Roeskilde. But very 
soon after he broke this treaty himself, and endeavored to 
subjugate Denmark and to capture Copenhagen. Then Fred- 
erick William, witli his imperial auxiliary troops, marched 
into Holstein, and even to Jutland and Fiinen, where the bat- 
tle of Nyberg, in 1659, was decided in part by Brandenburg- 
troops. Charles X. was still strong in reliance on France, 
when he suddenly died, February 23, 1660. The regency 
which governed in his infant son's name made haste to ac- 
cept the peace for which negotiations were already beo-un. 
It was concluded at Oliva, a monastery near Dantzic, May 3, 
1660; and by its terms Poland surrendered all feudal rights 
in Prussia, where Frederick William thenceforth reigned as 
sovereign prince. 

§ 7. Frederick William now had leisure to think of uniting 
in one state his scattered territories. The councils or "es- 
tates" in Cleves and in Brandenburg were slow and anti- 
quated bodies ; the elector, whose new system of taxation 
needed little aid from them, rarely called them together, and 
they finally requested that they might be summoned no 
more. The Prussian estates, however, were accustomed to 
take part in the government, and had little fancy for the 
rigid discipline and oi'der of Brandenburg. They were fas- 
cinated by the unbridled liberty, or license, of their Polish 
neighbors. They insisted, too, that Poland could not trans- 
fer their allegiance to Frederick William without their con- 
sent, and refused to recognize his authority, while the ex- 
treme party among them entered into traitorous negotia- 
tions with Poland. At the head of this party were Jerome 
Rhode, the chief officer of Konigsberg, and Colonel von Kalk- 
stein. But the elector, finding that neither mildness nor 

Ii 



482 HISTORY 01' GERMANY. Book V. 

threatening was effectual, appealed to force. He imprisoned 
Rhode, who refused to ask forgiveness, and died, defiant, in 
prison. Kalkstein, who had threatened the elector's life, was 
once seized and then pardoned, when he broke his pledges, 
and fled to the Poles, In Warsaw he presented himself as 
a representative of the Prussian states, and in their name 
made charges against the elector, and demanded that Poland 
should vindicate its ancient rights. Frederick William, by 
his embassador, had him secretly seized, wrapped in carpets, 
and brought to Prussia, and he was decapitated at Memel 
in 1671. The opposition was now crushed, and the elector 
was the unquestioned sovereign of Prussia. In such acts 
as this, Frederick William resembled Louis XIY. ; but his 
absolutism was of a very different kind — it served the 
state, instead of sacrificing the state to his own vanity or 
pleasure. 

§ 8. Brandenburg now enjoyed twelve years of peace. In 
1672 the elector took part in the war against Louis XIV., 
and was the first of the German princes to go to the help of 
Holland, quietly disregarding the French king's offers and 
promises. He well knew the value of Holland to the freedom 
of Europe. But he was treated most ungenerously by Aus- 
tria, and was so vigorously attacked by Louis XIV. in Cleves 
and Westphalia that he was compelled to accept the Peace 
of Vossem in 1673. The next year, however, the German 
Empire went into the war, and Frederick William again came 
to the Rhine ; this time with twenty thousand men, far more 
than his proportion, Louis XIV. stirred up a new enemy 
against him in Sweden. The Swedes advanced into his ter- 
ritory from Lower Pomerania, plundering and burning their 
way through Upper Pomerania, Neumark, and Priegnitz to 
the region of the Havel, and were making ready in 1675 to 
cross the Elbe into Altmark. 

§ 9. The news of these events reached the elector at the 
river Main. He at once set out with his cavalry and a select 
body of infantry of twelve hundred men, and reached Mag- 
deburg June 11, 1675. Here he closed the city gates, that 
the news of his approach might not go before him, and rested 
two davs. He then placed his twelve hundred musketeers 
in wagons, and again moved on by forced marches. On June 



Chap. XXI. ACHIEVEMENTS OF FREDERICK WILLIAM. 483 

15 he occupied Rathenow, crossed the Havel, and thus reached 
the middle of the long line of the Swedes, which stretched 
from Havelberg to Brandenburg. The left wing of this line 
now made haste to extricate itself from the morasses which 
inclose the region of the Havel, and to cross the river Rhine, 
the former boundary between the Havel land and the county 
of Ruppin, which is fordable in but few places. At one of 
these fords, Fehrbellin, and on a sandy plain full of pines, 
the elector forced them to a fight, June 18, 1675. He had 
been able, in his extreme haste, to keep with him but five 
thousand six hundred mounted men, and with these he at- 
tacked eleven thousand Swedes (four thousand cavalry, 
seven thousand infantry, and thirty-eight guns). At the 
opening of the fight, he made haste to place his artillery on 
a hill which commanded the field ; and here followed the 
fiercest of the battle. The elector was only rescued by his 
faithful horsemen, who cut a way out for him from the midst 
of surrounding foes. Emanuel of Froben fell, as tradition 
relates, a voluntary sacrifice for his master. This exploit 
decided the day in favor of Brandenburg. The young and 
i-ising power had defeated Sweden, whose military fame had 
stood unshaken ever since the days of Gustavus Adolphus, 
and the elector had the honor of delivering his country from 
the power of foreigners. In seven days more there was not 
an enemy in the marches. The empire now declared war 
against Sweden ; and Denmark, eager to obtain Bremen and 
Verden, German possessions of Sweden, formed an alliance 
with the Great Elector. 

§ 10. Thus supported, Frederick William marched to at- 
tack Sweden's German districts. Before the end of 1676 he 
had conquered almost all of Lower Pomerania. In 1677 he 
took Stettin, and then Greifswalde and even Stralsund. To 
reduce this city, it was necessary to cross to Rugen, with the 
help of the Danes, and of the little fleet which the elector had 
alreadj^ collected on the Baltic. Not a foot of German soil 
was now possessed by Sweden. Frederick William went to 
Westphalia to defend Cleves against the French. There, in 
December, 1678, he received the news that the Swedes had 
invaded Prussia. Though the cold was severe, and he was 
sick, yet he withdrew his array from Pomerania, and joined 



484 HISTOEY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

ihc'iu in person at Marienwerder in January, 1G79, where 
he mustered nine thousand men. The Swedes had already 
begun a retreat. The elector collected sleds from the whole 
country to transport his infantry ; and, boldly taking the 
direct way across the frozen HafF, cut off the enemy's re- 
treat. But he came upon the mere remnants of an army dis- 
organized and in flight. The winter's cold and the vigorous 
pursuit of the Brandenburgers, who followed them almost to 
Riga, left scarcely a tenth of the fifteen thousand Swedes. 

§ 11. Thus the war was ended. But the elector's allies had 
already concluded a peace with Louis XIV. apart from him, 
that of Nymwegen, in 1678. It was the envy of Austria that 
induced them thus to desert their ally. Louis XIV. now had 
him alone to deal with, and occupied Cleves, and then Mark, 
Ravensberg, and Minden. Frederick William could not re- 
sist his power, and Louis demanded the restoration of all that 
he had taken from Sweden. The elector finally submitted, 
wishing for an avenger of his own blood to punish his faith- 
less allies. The conduct of Louis XIV. at this time was 
marked by unparalleled insolence toward Germany. He 
caused a colossal statue of himself to be made, standing on 
the necks of four slaves, representing the Emperor, the Elec- 
tor of Brandenburg, Spain, and Holland. But though the 
German rulers bitterly resented his treatment of them, none 
of them could resist him. By the Peace of St. Germain, 
in 16*79, the elector restored to Sweden all the conquered 
lands. 

§ 12. Nor was this the last of the elector's mortifications. 
In 1675 the ducal house of Liegnitz, Brieg, and Wohlau be- 
came extinct. By the old convention of 1537, Brandenburg 
was to succeed to their lands. But Austria claimed them as 
a fief of Bohemia, and took possession of them without re- 
gard to the rights of Brandenburg. It was said in Vienna in 
so many words, " His imperial majesty is not pleased to per- 
mit a new Vandal kingdom to arise on the Baltic." Austria 
repeatedly refused to accept aid from the elector against the 
Turks when in sore need of it, lest he should take military 
possession of these provinces. After the peace of St. Ger- 
main, Frederick William's distrust and anger toward his late 
allies drove him to seek better relations with France ; but 



Chap. XXI. REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES. 485 

this was an unnatural friendship, ^vhicll could not last. Spain 
owed him money for subsidies advanced during the late war. 
But repayment was refused, and the elector sent his little 
Heet to attack Spain by sea. This fleet consisted of ten 
frigates, which he had caused to be built for him in Holland 
before the war, and which had done good service against 
the Swedes. These vessels captured several Spanish trading 
ships of value, but failed to intercept the annual " silver 
fleet," which brought the produce of the American mines to 
Spain ; and it was finally driven by the superior navy of 
Spain, and by stormy weather, to seek shelter in a Portuguese 
harbor. The emperor now had need of the elector's help 
against the Turks, in order to recover Hungary ; and he as- 
signed him the circle of Schwiebus in satisfaction of his claims 
in Silesia, and in addition a money claim of his own on East 
Friesland, by which Frederick William obtained possession 
of Emden and Gretsyl, as security for the money. From 
these points his vessels sailed to his colonies. For he had al- 
ready taken possession of a strip of land on the African gold- 
coast, building there the fortress of " Great-Fredericksburg ;" 
and he had purchased from the Danes part of St. Thomas in 
the West Indies. These colonies, however, were not suc- 
cessful. They were in unfortunate locations, and were en- 
tirely abandoned by his successors within forty years. But 
they serve to illustrate the restless and far-sighted activity of 
the Great Elector. 

§ 13. Frederick William soon quarreled with Louis XIY. 
again. In 1685, Louis began to persecute his Protestant sub- 
jects with severity (Chap. XX., § V). He was as resolute that 
but one faith should be acknowledged in France as that the 
king's will should be supreme there. The Great Elector, the 
protector of all Protestants in Germany, opened his lands to all 
French refugees ; and they came thither, bringing their man- 
ufacturing arts and skill. This provoked Louis. The elect- 
or then gave aid to William III. of Orange, his wife's neph- 
ew, who, sustained by the great nobles of England, deposed 
James II., his Catholic father-in-law, and ascended the En- 
glish throne. James II. was in the pay of Louis XIV,, and 
dependent on him; so that these events increased his indigo 
nation against the elector. Frederick William, however, did 



486 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

not live to see his plans consummated. He died in 1688, 
leaving them as a momentous trust to his son Frederick III. 
§ 14. The Great Elector was the only ruler of true great- 
ness of whom Germany could boast during the seventeenth 
century. It was the melancholy Peace of Westphalia which 
opened his way ; for by disintegrating the German Empire, 
and constituting the princes sovereigns in their own domains, 
that treaty enabled Frederick William to act as an inde- 
pendent monarch. He built up a new power out of the 
wreck of the empire. With comparatively small, resources 
at first, he succeeded by treaties within and without Ger- 
many in preventing any one monarchy from overshadowing 
Europe, and was especially efficient in checking Louis XIV.'s 
umbition. He was the first to attack Louis's overgrown 
power in 1672, and the last to abandon the field against him 
in 1679. William HI. of Orange afterward pursued the 
same policy with still greater power and success. Frederick 
William was an astute diplomatist, A'ersed in the cunning 
and unprincipled statesmanship of his times; but he was 
also an able warrior, and out of small beginnings he built 
up a great state. But this man, in international aff*airs a 
hero, becomes, in the internal administration of his own coun- 
try, a careful and prudent economist. He was wise and 
sparing in his expenses, and cultivated the. resources of his 
territories with such success that, in spite of heavy taxation, 
the people were prosperous. The French refugees, to whom 
the elector's son granted space for a colony of their own at 
Berlin, greatly stimulated the growth of productive indus- 
try, then in its infancy. Frederick William also facilitated 
and extended trade by making roads and canals. His prin- 
cipal work of this class was the canal which bears his name, 
and which unites the Oder with both the Spree and the Elbe. 
While his mind was busied with the vastest projects, and 
his embassadors and his court displayed all the magnificence 
and stately ceremonial of the age, he was at home simple, 
childlike, and companionable. He would fish in the carp- 
pool in Potsdam, water his own dahlias in the pleasure-gar- 
den of Berlin, buy singing-birds in the public market, and 
carry them home for himself. Though not free from re- 
proach in his political conduct, in private life he was a man 



Chap. XXI. PRU.-SIA MADE A KINGDOM. 487 

)fcleep and genuine piety. His fiist wife, Louise Henriette 
)t' Orange, was a worthy companion for him. At his death 
he left to his son a state, not as yet continuous, indeed, in 
territory, but larger than Bavaria, Wirtemberg, and Baden 
together now are, and so important that it was a kingdom in 
all but name. 

§ 15. Frederick III. of Brandenburg (1688-1713) succeeded 
his father, the Great Elector. His abilities had been under- 
valued by his father, and during his life they were not on 
good terms together, while his step-mother, Dorothea of Hol- 
stein, hated him bitterly, and tried to wrest the inheritance 
from him for the benefit of her own children. She was pop- 
ularly known as the "Brandenburg Agrippina," because it 
was believed that she had attempted to poison Frederick, 
and even that she had actually poisoned his young wife. 
Frederick, as crown prince, obtained support from Austria, 
and signed agreements in return which he did not fully un- 
derstand until, as reigning duke, he was required to fulfill 
them. He then (in 1695) gave back the circle of Schwiebus 
to Austria, but refused to give the required renunciation of 
all claims on Silesia. He was a prince of fair diplomatic 
ability. Following out his father's plans, he aided William 
HI. in his expedition to England in 1688, and his Branden- 
burg troops actually escorted the new constitutional king to 
Whitehall. When Louis XIV. began his third war of con- 
quest — that in the Palatinate — and the Emperor Leopold, 
who was busied with the Turks, delayed the defense of the 
western frontier, Frederick acted with a sjjirit and wisdom 
worthy of his father. He formed an alliance with Saxony, 
Hanover, and Hesse-Cassel, marched in person to the Rhine, 
and commanded at the capture of Bonn, which the French 
had occupied. He also followed up the policy of his ances- 
tors in extending his domains. He purchased Quedlinburg 
from Augustus II., the lavish elector of Saxony. At the 
death of William HI. he obtained from the Orange inherit- 
ance the counties of Linden and Mors, and, in Switzerland, 
the principality of Neufchatel and Valengin. 

§ 16. But this prince is best remembered for the fact that 
under him Brandenburg became the Kingdom of Prussia. 
No ruler was more susceptible to the influence of Louis XIV.'s 



488 HI:^TORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

court and the prevailing taste for display than Frederick, 
Two houses in North Germany — those of Hanover and Sax- 
ony — had attained high honors in Europe with Frederick's 
consent and help. He now desired equal honor for his own 
family, whose possessions were already quite equal to some 
of the minor European kingdoms. His territories included 
about 45,000 square miles. Circumstances were favorable 
at this time to his assumption of the royal title. About the 
year 1700 Europe was agitated by two great wars. In the 
North, Russia, under Peter the Great, Poland, under Augustus 
H., and Denmark, under Frederick IV., formed a league 
against Charles XII., the young and heroic king of Sweden, 
who, however, rapidly humbled one after another of his en- 
emies. In the South, meanwhile, the War of the Spanish Suc- 
cession was preparing. The elector was in an advantageous 
position ; he was courted on all sides. Austria, in particu- 
lar, was zealous for an alliance with him; so that the time 
seemed ripe to obtain the consent of the emperor and his 
allies to assume the title of king in his own land of Prussia, 
which did not belong to the empire. To pretend to royalty 
in his German possessions was of course impossible as long 
as the form of the empire continued to exist. The shrewd 
and far-seeing Prince Eugene, indeed, thought that " the 
minister who should advise the emperor to recognize the 
Prussian throne ought to be hanged." But in Vienna the 
apparent advantage for the moment was the prevailing con- 
sideration ; and on January 18, IVOI, Frederick had himself 
and his wife crowned with great pomp at Konigsberg, and 
assumed the style of " Frederick I., King in Prussia ;" and 
the Emperor Leopold was the first sovereign to acknowledge 
the title. The full importance of this step was not obvious 
at the time. Frederick the Great remarks that his grandfa- 
ther, by this act, said to his successors, " I have attained a 
title for you, show yourselves worthy of it. I have laid the 
foundation of your greatness — you must finish the work." 

§ 17. It was the king's disposition to surround the new 
royal title with royal splendor. He laid out as a residence 
and capital the new part of the city of Berlin on a scale be- 
yond the wants and resources of the time. The royal palace, 
the arsenal, and Charlottenburg were built after Schliiter's 



Chap. XXI. THE FIHST KINGS OF PRUSSIA. 489 

designs, and the long bridge was adorned with tlie equestrian 
statue of tlie Great Elector, by the same artist. A new sec- 
tion was added to the city; the "Frederick's City" (Fried- 
richstadt), with the beautiful street " Under the Lindens," 
came into being. The new king's wife was the highly in- 
telligent Sophie Charlotte of Hanover, the friend of Leib- 
nitz, upon whose plans the Academy of the Sciences was 
founded in Berlin in 1711. Nor was the work of education 
or of charity neglected. The University of Halle was found- 
ed in 1694, side by side with the famous orphan-house, the 
wonderful creation of Hermann August Francke. Frederick 
L continued to carry out his father's policy of protecting re- 
ligious freedom, and defending the Protestants every where. 
Li his love of display, he forgot the principles of prudent 
economy which nearly all the Hohenzollerns had practiced. 
His people were heavily burdened with taxes, and the Bran- 
denburg finances, under the influence of Kolb of Warten- 
burg, a dexterous but shallow-minded minister, went to ruin. 
The king's last years were saddened by sickness and disap- 
pointments. He died February 25, 1713. 

§ 18. Frederick William I. (1713-1740) fortunately proved 
to be a master of those very arts of financial and economic- 
al administration which the father had neglected. He was 
simple, military, and economical in his tastes, and bent on 
practical ends, so that he dispensed w'ith the splendor of ap- 
pearance then expected from a prince, and, indeed, despised 
it on principle. Rejecting the immoral tendencies wdiich 
French example had made common in all courts, he strove 
to be the serious and strict father of his family and his coun- 
try. He resolved to surround himself with j^iety and home- 
made manners. Frederick William exhibited great force of 
character in resisting the current of the times, and especial- 
ly in his administration of the government. Every branch 
of it was made to centre in the General Directory, so that 
he, like a great landlord, had immediate supervision of the 
whole. In every department he insisted on a rigid economy. 
He impressed his own character upon the officers of his gov- 
ernment, men famous as simple, abrupt, but conscientious 
ministers, who made his administration a machine. In the 
civil order, as established by him, his great son found little 



490 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book Y. 

to cliaiige. He had no fondness for science, except as it 
served immediate practical ends ; but he laid tlie foundations 
of a regular system of popular education throughout Prussia. 
He followed the narrow theories of his age, in endeavoring 
to protect and cultivate the industry and resources of his 
own country by rigid isolation, and by levying heavy duties 
on the products of foreign laboi-. Thus he forbade the wear- 
ing of cloth not woven in the land, and, with his own family, 
set the example of wearing " homespun." He encouraged 
agriculture, and welcomed into the country refugees from 
religious persecution elsewhere. Many such came to him 
from Bohemia ; but the settlement in East Prussia, which 
had been depopulated by a frightful pestilence, of seven- 
teen thousand exiles from Salzburg, was his most important 
acquisition of this kind. 

§ 19. Frederick William I. had an indomitable will, and was 
resolved that it should be supreme when he was king. The 
Great Elector had made the power of the sovereign para- 
mount over that of the petty nobles ; but Frederick William 
now brought this doctrine of absolute monarchy to its highest 
form. His amusements were the chase — his chief passion — 
painting, working a lathe, and the easy and informal evening 
gatherings which have become famous under the name of the 
" Tobacco Parliament." He was very zealous in his patriot- 
ism, and sometimes furious in his sudden wrath, so that he 
would lay about him vigorously with his Spanish cane. But 
though eccentric in many ways, he had a keen eye for justice 
and utility. His foreign policy was not fortunate. He at- 
tached himself with excessive zeal to Austria. His field- 
marshal, Grurakow, and the cunning Austrian embassador 
Seckendorf, knew how to control him, and his simplicity was 
often abused by diplomatic arts. He was wholly, and often 
too exclusively, devoted to his ai'my. His father had stead- 
ily enlarged, improved, and disciplined this army throughout 
his reign. Prince Leopold of Dessau, long remembered by 
the people as "the Old Dessauer," was the great instructor 
of the ai'my in tactics and discipline. He was the general 
under whom the Prussians assisted to decide the battles of 
Hochstadt and Turin, and thus made their king's title re- 
spected. Frederick William I. lived his whole life in his sol- 



Chai-. XXI. ADVENTURES OF CHARLES XII. 491 

diers. There was something surprising in his fondness for 
his "blue children," and especially for " long fellows" — a pas- 
sion which led him to forget even his habits of economy. 
But he was firmly convinced that the future greatness of his 
state depended on building up a powerful army. He in- 
creased his forces to eighty-four thousand men ; a great host 
for so small a kingdom, but his son made it the instrument of 
great accomplishments. The Prussian soldiers were regard- 
ed as models in Europe, Leopold of Dessau, a military gen- 
ius, introduced the bayonet in his army, taught the men to 
form columns or lines on the field with great rapidity, and, 
by the use of metallic ramrods, to load and fire with a speed 
which often decided the battle. His discipline was cruel and 
barbarous. The men, who were more than half foreignei's, 
recruited from various lands, were kicked and beaten into 
the art of war; but this roughness found a counterpart in 
the soldiers themselves. The Old Dessauer was a popular 
favorite, and a march named for him led the Brandenburgers 
to battle long after his death. 

§ 20. Frederick William I, had but few occasions for actual 
warfare. The War of the Spanish Succession ended when he 
came to the thi-one, so that he joined in the Peace of Utrecht, 
and obtained by it part of the duchy of Guelders, previously 
a possession of the house of Orange. After this his army 
was twice called into service — the first time against Sweden. 
Charles XH. had visited his wrath against Augustus H. 
upon his unfortunate subjects of Saxony. In 1706 he in- 
vaded Saxony, laid waste the country, and in 1707 forced Au- 
gustus II. to the Peace of Altranstedt. Meanwhile he fol- 
lowed the example of Gustavus Adolphus, and extorted from 
Austria toleration for the persecuted Protestants in Silesia. 
He then invaded Russia; but the Russians retreated before 
him, leaving the country a desert ; and when he reached 
Pultowa, his forces were reduced in numbers, so that they 
were utterly routed (June 27, 1709), and Charles, who was 
wounded, narrowly escaped capture. He fled to Turkey 
with a few followers, and the next year instigated the Grand 
Turk to war against Russia. During this war he surround- 
ed the Czar, Peter the Great, in the Crimea, and would 
have taken him but for the address of a German cirl fi-om 



492 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

Rinteln in Esthonia. This Martha had been the gervant of 
a clergyman in Marienburg, where she married a Swedish 
dragoon. He was killed immediately afterward j but she 
remained with the army, was captured by the Russians, and 
became the slave and mistress of successive officers, until she 
r.ttracted the attention of Menschikoif himself, and was taken 
into his household. She it was who bribed tlie grand vizier 
by the offering of all her jewels to let the Czar escape, and 
thus secured for Peter the Great the Peace of Falrin, July 
23,1711. His gratitude in after-years was such that, from 
his slave and companion, she became his wife, and on his 
death ascended the throne as Catharine, Czarina of all the 
Russias. 

§ 21. Charles XII. afterward spent five years in Turkey, 
where he exercised a great influence over the government, 
but was finally driven away. Meanwhile his foes on every 
side attacked his kingdom. Lower Pomerania being threat- 
ened by Russia and Denmark, the Swedish regency in 1713 
invited Frederick William I., as a neutral monarch, to occupy 
it. But the military governor of Stettin refused to give up 
the city save at the king's direct command ; and Saxony and 
Russia captured it, but afterward delivered it to Frederick 
William I. on payment by him of four hundred thousand 
thalers to pay the costs of the war. But Avhen Charles XII. 
returned from Turkey in 1714, he repudiated the treaty, and 
refused to repay the money. Frederick William I. then 
joined the enemies of Sweden, though he highly esteemed 
the king. He and the Danes besieged Charles XII. in Stral- 
sund, and captured the city, Charles himself escaping with 
difficulty. Before he was assassinated in 1718, at Friedrichs- 
hall, the power of Sweden had fallen low in his hands. The 
Prussians again occupied Lower Pomerania, and took Riigen 
and Stralsnnd. George I., who had become king of England 
in 1714, but was still a zealous Hanoverian in policy, bought 
of Sweden for Hanover the Swedish districts of Bremen and 
Verden, then occupied by the Danes ; and by the Peace of 
Stockholm, in 1720, obtained permanent possession of them. 
Denmark acquired that part of Schleswig which belonged 
to the house of Holstein-Gottorp. This peace also gave 
Prussia Lower Pomerania as far as the Pcene, leaving to the 



Chap. XXI. WAKS OF FEEDERICK WILLIAM I. 493 

Swedes only the extreme point of the land, with Greifswalde, 
Stralsund, and the island of Riigen — all of which it retained 
until 1815. Frederick William took especial satisfaction in 
the recovery of Stettin, because of its value as a sea-port. 
Thus Sweden, mainly by the arms of Prussia, w^as driven out 
of Germany. But Russia, on the other hand, was risino- in 
power under Peter the Great, and obtained from Sweden by 
the Peace of Nystadt nearly all of the German colonies in 
the Baltic, as Esthonia, C-arelia, and Nyermanland. It also 
was already extending its control over Courland, It was now 
Russia, instead of Sweden, that held a thi-eatening ascend- 
ency in Northern Europe. Its armies were led mainly by 
Germans, often desperate adventurers, and many of its states- 
men were of the same class. 

§ 22. The other war in which Frederick William's ti'oops 
were engaged was that of the Polish succession (HSS-lYSS ; 
Chap. XX., § 14). Lescinsky was supported by France, by 
the Elector of Bavaria, and the three Rhine electors. But 
Frederick William loyally supported the Emperor Charles 
VI., who, with Russia, upheld Augustus III. of Saxony : 
Charles on condition that Saxony should acknowledge the 
Pragmatic Sanction, Russia on condition that Courland, 
hitherto a fief of Poland, should fall to Russia on the extinc- 
tion of the German ducal house of Keltler. A Russian 
army advanced to Dantzic, then a Polish city, and afterward 
even marched through Germany to the Rhine — the first ap- 
pearance of the czars on German soil. Once more the veteran 
Prince Eugene of Savoy led an army to the Rhine. But no 
decisive battle was fought. France -withdrew its demands, 
and Stanislaus Lescinsky obtained the duchy of Lorraine as 
a compensation ; but by the agreement then made, it fell to 
France at his death in 1 766. Francis Stephen, the young Duke 
of Lorraine, husband of Maria Theresa, the emperor's daugh- 
ter, received Tuscany, Parma, and Piacenza in satisfaction 
of his loss. France acknowledged the Pragmatic Sanction. 
King Frederick William I., who Avas now, as always, faithful 
to the emperor, and had distinguished himself by his patriot- 
ism above the other princes, had been assured of the succes- 
sion to the duchy of Berg at the extinction of the house of 
Pfalz-Neuburg. But at the end of the war he found himself 



494 lUt^TORV OF GERMANY. Book V. 

disappointed, and even industriously neglected by the emper- 
or. He too, like the Great Elector, wished for an avenger, 
and hoped to find him in his son, the Crown-Prince Frederick. 
He was at last broken down in mind and body, and died May 
31 1740. He left an army ready for the field, 83,000 strong ; 
a treasure of 9,000,000 thalers, besides silver bullion ; a ter- 
ritory of 64,400 square miles, and with a population of nearly 
2 500 000. He had increased the revenue of the state from 
two and a half to seven and a half millions of thalers ; and 
Berlin had a population of nearly 100,000. 

§ 23, At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Germany 
reached the extreme point of disintegration, beyond which it 
could in no sense be regarded as a nation. It is said that at 
this time "the states of the empire" numbered no less than 
314; and there were besides 1475 small territories, belonging 
to knights who had " the freedom of the empire." Each of 
these districts was practically a distinct sovereignty. Even 
the petty lords of the land aped the manners and style of 
the great courts, levied oppressive aids and taxes upon the 
people, sustained their own military and judicial establish- 
ments, and exercised absolute authority within their own 
territories. The spirit of freedom was almost every where 
extinct; rarely, indeed, was a bold voice heard, like that of 
Bishop Osiander in Wirtemberg, who, when ordered by the 
duke's mistress to insert in the service a prayer for her, an- 
swered that the right petition concerning her was already 
there, in the words of the Lord, " Deliver us from evil," Nor 
was the sentiment of German patriotism a power in political 
life. It was almost exclusively in the use of a common 
language, and in the production and enjoyment of a common 
literature, that the Germans preserved any sense of unity as 
a race or a nation. Nor was it until a generation later, 
when the very name of the empire had lost its charm and 
was ready to be thrown away, that the national literature of 
the Germans became the cherished treasure of the whole 
people, and began anew the work, in which the old imperial 
constitution had utterly failed, of binding them together in 
the consciousness of one great and ])rogressive nation. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

FREDEEICK THE GREAT AND HIS EEIGN, UNTIL THE SEVEN- 
Y ears' war. 

§ 1 . Accession of Frederick II. § 2. His Birth and Early Life, § 3. Quar- 
rels with his Fatlier. § 4. Peaceful Beginning of his Keign. § '>. Sud- 
den Invasion of Silesia. § G. Description and Early History of Silesia. 
§ 7. The War of the Austrian Succession begins. § 8. Frederick Occupies 
Silesia. § 9. Hungary Sustains JMaria Theresa. Charles Albert Elected 
Emperor. § 10. Frederick II. Victorious in Moravia; Peace of Breslau. 
§ 11. The Second Silesian War; Francis of Lorraine Elected Emperor. 
§ 12. Prussia Acquires East Friesland. § 13. The Peace of Aix ; Change 
in Austrian Policy. §1+. The Change of Government in Silesia. § 15. 
Frederick II. 's Administration during Peace. §16. His Literary Tastes ; 
his French Culture and Friends. § 1 7. He Improves Berlin and Potsdam. 
§ 18. Causes of the " Seven-Years' War." 

§ 1. Frederick II. of Prussia ascended the throne just one 
hundred years aft^ his great-grandfather, " the Great Elect- 
or." Almost a century had passed since the Peace of West- 
phalia; and during this time the German people had begun 
to renew their prosperity and their activity in industry, sci- 
ence, and art. While the empire had lost much in the west 
by France, it had gained nearly as much in the east; and the 
new kingdom of Prussia in particular had of late increased 
very rapidly in power and vigor. 

§ 2. Frederick the Great was born at the palace in Berlin, 
January 24, 1712. His mother, Sojjhie Dorothea of Hanover, 
was a sister of George II. of England. His early years were 
spent under the care of women, but his father was too much 
of a soldier not to delight in the boy's military sports. But 
the father's sternness, and his frequent fits of angry passion, 
under which the queen herself often suiFered, deeply wound- 
ed the sensitiveness of Frederick and of his eldest sister 
Wilhelmina. As Frederick grew up, his disgust for the 
heartless and arbitrary religious instruction he received, his 
preference for French literature and for music over the chase 
and the Tobacco Parliament, led the king to regard him as 



496 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

"effeminate," unsoldierly, and unworthy of tlie throne. He 
maltreated the prince, who defied him openly and ridiculed 
him in private. In 1728 the lather and son together visited 
the Saxon court, a home of debauchery, from which youno- 
Frederick brought back inclinations of a dangerous character. 
He fell among reckless companions, pursued wild courses and 
contracted many debts. A double alliance by marriaoe with 
the royal family of England liad been proposed, Frederick 
was to marry the Princess Amelia of England and the Prince 
of Wales was to marry the Princess Wilhelmina. Queen 
Sophie Dorothea had set her heart on this project, but George 
II. postponed signing the treaty ; and finally Frederick Will- 
iam permitted himself to be influenced by Grumkow and 
Seckendorf to abandon the project. This Avas a heavy blow 
to young Frederick; and the Princess Amelia never married, 
cherishing to the last a romantic passion for her Prussian 
hero. 

§ 3. The contemptuous and violent treatment to which the 
king subjected Frederick made him desperate, and in 1730, 
having been actually struck before others by his father, the 
prince determined to escape to France. The attempt was 
made during a journey to the Rhine, but failed. Frederick 
was detected, arrested, carried to Berlin as a jDrisoner, and 
tried by a court-martial, from which it seemed to be the 
king's wish to extort a sentence of death. Lieutenant Katte, 
the prince's friend and assistant, was actually executed be- 
fore the window of Frederick's prison at Kiistrin. These 
trials seem in some respects to have strengthened his charac- 
ter, but also to have embittered it. He yielded all he could 
to his father, and even consented to the marriage the king 
arranged for liim with Elizabeth Christine of Brunswick- 
Bevern (married June 12, 1733), and in many respects shaped 
his life against his own inclinations to please the king. Upon 
receiving his assurance of submission and repentance, the 
king released Frederick from confinement, and gave liiiii 
employment as member of a government board at Ktistrin, 
whose work was to administer the crown-lands. Wilhel- 
mina was soon after this married to the Margrave of Bai- 
reuth, and Frederick was restored to favor, and received for 
his residence, the castle of Phcinsberg, in New-Riippin, where 



Chap. XXII. FREDERICK II. BEGINS HIS REIGN. 497 

he set up his own little court in 1*736, and spent the happiest 
part of his life among intellectual friends, and in the indul- 
gence of his tastes for literature, music, and art. In 1734, 
the War of the Polish Succession drew him for a short time 
to the field on the Rhine, under the aged Prince Eugene. 
But he learned little here of war, save that the Austrian mil- 
itary organization was in a declining state. He was during 
these years an earnest student of politics and statesmanship 
as well as of the fine arts. None but his intimate friends 
knew that he was also fired with military ambition, and was 
still more eager to be a great king than to be a poet and a 
philosopher. 

§ 4. Frederick William died May 31, 1740, having been for 
some time on very friendly terms with his son. At the 
accession of Frederick II., his subjects generally expected a 
golden time of unbroken peace, and of science and art. The 
young king seemed about to pursue this course. He recalled 
the philosopher Wolf, whom his father had expelled from 
Halle. He dismissed the royal guard of giants, and gave uj) 
the wild hunting sports which his father had practiced. He 
invited Frenchmen of genius to bring new life to the Acad- 
emy. His earliest laws were for the abolition of such bar- 
barisms as the torture. He then made the tour of the prin- 
cipal cities, including the courts of the Hohenzollerns in South 
Germany, and went down the Rhine from Strasbur^to Cleves. 
Hither he invited Voltaire, who, in Brussels, had been hoping 
for a private visit from the king. He then returned to Pots- 
dam, where his father had established the royal residence. 

§ 5. In the matter of the bishopric of Liittich, Frederick 
showed his purpose to uphold every right of his house ; and 
he was now resolved to make good his father's claims to 
Berg, or to obtain from Austria an equivalent. The Emper- 
or Charles VI. died October 20, 1740, the last male of the 
house of Hapsburg ; and by virtue of the Pragmatic Sanc- 
tion, which had now been guaranteed by all the European 
powers except Bavaria, his daughter, Maria Theresa, succeed- 
ed him in his Austrian possessions. Frederick thought this 
the time to urge his claims upon the Silesian duchies. But 
he was moved to this course much less by the right he 
claimed under old treaties than by his desire for action and 

Kk 



498 HISTOKY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

for gain, and his wish to revenge upon Austria the wi'ongs 
of the past. He quietly increased }iis army to 100,000 men, 
and then suddenly invaded Silesia, December, 1740, in order 
to occupy it at once as a security for his claims. These 
claims were founded on a treaty between Joachim II. of 
Brandenburg and the ducal house of Liegnitz, Brieg, and 
Wohlau in 153*7, making each family the heir to the other's 
lands on failure of issue. The Silesian ducal succession fail- 
ed in 1675; but Austria seized the lands as a fief of Bohe- 
mia, and took back from Frederick I., in 1695, the circle of 
Schwiebus, which Prussia had accepted as a substitute (see 
the preceding chapter). Frederick II. also brought forward 
the ancient claims of his family to the Silesian duchy of 
Jagerndorf. 

§ 6. Silesia lies in the valley of the Oder, divided from Bo- 
hemia on the southwest by the lofty range of the Riesen- 
Gebirge, with few passes, while on the east and northeast it 
lies open to the vast plains of Poland. It is thus connected 
by its natural features with the Prussian territories intio 
which the Oder flows, and cut off from Austria. The popu- 
lation is a mixture of colonists from all parts of Germany, 
and is of an intelligent, industrious, and good-natured char- 
acter. The southern part, called Upper Silesia, is mountain- 
ous, but rich iri mineral treasures, especially in coal and iron. 
In this region the Sclavonic population remains in large 
numbers beside the Germans. But in Central and Lower 
Silesia, in the hilly and beautiful country north of the Riesen- 
Gebirge, and in the rich plain of the Oder from Breslau down 
to Glogau, the German settlers had been in the ascendency 
ever since the fourteenth century. The princely house of the 
Piasts was now divided into many petty branches. Silesia 
contained some flourishing cities, of which the chief was 
Breslau, the centre of commerce with the East, a rich episco- 
pal see, and a sort of capital for the entire country. Thus 
Silesia, with its German population, was like a wedge thrust 
between the Sclavonic countries Bohemia and Poland, and 
reaching on the southeast to Hungary. This dangerous sit- 
uation brought much trouble and sorrow. In the thirteenth 
century it was ravaged by the Mongols, and in the fifteenth 
by the Hussites. From the time of King John and the Em- 



Chap. XXII. WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION. 499 

peror Charles IV., it was an adjunct of the Bohemian crown, 
and fell with it to the house of Hapsburg. Like Prussia, 
the land of the German order of knighthood, it was not re- 
garded as in the empire, nor was it included in the division 
into circles. But the people were German in language and 
feelings. They embraced the Reformation at an early pe- 
riod, with their princes and noblemen, and with scarcely a 
struggle. But the battle at Mtihlberg began a new epoch. 
Rudolph and Ferdinand II., with their Jesuits, continued the 
persecutions, and especially after the battle on the White 
Mountain in 1620, and the fall of Frederick V., the oppres- 
sion had been terrible. The political and religious liberties 
of the people were crushed. Under Leopold I. they were 
treated with such severity that Charles XII.'s attention was 
called to the subject during his march through the country, 
and he interceded with the emperor for them. But in spite 
of the persecutions, to which Charles VI. did not put an end, 
the Protestants continued to be numerous and powerful ; 
and they were ready to look upon the Prussian invaders as 
liberators rather than enemies. 

§ 7. Frederick's invasion of Silesia kindled a general war. 
For Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, chose the same time, 
under Prussia's example, to bring forward his claims to the 
whole of the hereditary possessions of Austria in Germany. 
Charles Albert was descended from a daughter of the Em- 
peror Ferdinand I.; and he claimed that that" emperor had, 
by his will, made the house of Bavaria heir to his lands 
on failure of his own male descendants. Ferdinand's will, 
however, had in reality provided only for the case of the 
failure of all legitimate issue of his line, one which had not 
occurred. Charles Albert was also the husband of a daughter 
of the Emperor Joseph I. He was a man of no efficiency, 
and no resources in money or trooj^s. He brought forward 
his claims in reliance on France. The revengeful and cor- 
rupt government of Louis XV. promised him aid, in exchange 
for shameful humiliation and dependence on his part, and for 
the promise of further concessions on the Rhine. Thus the 
War of the Austrian Succession broke out almost immedi- 
ately after the first Silesian War. A secret alliance was 
made at Nymphcnburg, near Munich, May 18, 1741, between 



500 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

France and Bavaria, and was joined by Prussia, Spain, Sar- 
dinia, and Saxony. Augustus III. of Saxony was wholly in- 
fluenced by Briihl, his vain and unscrupulous minister, and 
hoped to obtain cheap accessions of territory. Indeed, the 
plan of this alliance was to divide the Austrian possessions; 
giving Austrian Italy to Spain, Moravia and Upper Silesia 
to Saxony, the Netherlands to France, Tyrol, Bohemia, and 
Upper Austria to Bavaria, and Frederick's conquests in Si- 
lesia to Prussia. Maria Theresa was to retain only Carin- 
thia, Carniola, Styria, Hungary, and Lower Austria. En- 
gland, Holland, and Russia declared in favor of Maria The- 
resa, but the last-named power was at once involved in a 
war with Sweden through the machinations of the French 
court, and England was slow to take an active part in the 
war. 

§ 8. Frederick II. had been long watching for the death 
of Charles VI., and now made the best use, upon this occa- 
sion, of the eflicient army and the well-filled treasury his fa- 
ther had left. In December, 1740, he suddenly invaded Si- 
lesia, and occupied it almost without opposition ; for Maria 
Theresa had no apprehension of an attack in that quarter, 
and had not prepared for it. The young king commanded 
his army in person. Breslau, a city which claimed the free- 
dom of the empire, was declared neutral ; Glogau was taken, 
and Neisse and Brieg were temporarily invested. After oc- 
cupying Silesia, and proclaiming there his rights to the land, 
he offered in Vienna to protect Maria Theresa under the 
Pragmatic Sanction, if she would recognize his claims to Si- 
lesia. The oflier was refused, and the war went on. In the 
spring of 1741, Neipperg led an Austrian army into Silesia, 
and marched by way of Neisse to Brieg. Frederick met it 
at Mollwitz, April 10, 1741. Both armies were small, and 
they preserved the same old cumbrous order of battle adopt- 
ed in the Thirty- Years' War. The Austrian cavalry was 
much more numerous than the Prussian, broke through it, 
seized the artilleiy in the centre, and seemed to have won 
the day. Frederick allowed Marshal Schwerin to persuade 
him to leave the field of battle, in order to cover the retreat 
with the reserve troops. But Schwerin then, through the 
firmness and superiority of the Prussian infantry, won a com- 



Chap. XXII. MARIA THERESA CROWNED IN HUNGARY. 501 

plete victory. Brieg, too, was then taken ; and on August 
10 Frederick received homage in Breslau. 

§ 9. In September of the same year, the Bavarians, rein- 
forced by the French, moved down the Danube to Linz. 
French troops under Belleisle, with Saxon aid, invaded Bo- 
hemia. In this extremity, Maria Theresa showed herself 
great. Her youth and misfortunes, and her character, aroused 
in her own territories such an enthusiasm that the people 
were ready for any sacrifice ; and she really presents a grand- 
er figure on the stage of history than any of her male an- 
cestors for two hundred years befoie. The people of Hun- 
gary especially distinguished themselves by their devotion 
to her. At Presburg, September 11, 1741, she Avent through 
the traditional ceremony of receiving the crown of St. Stephen, 
and, dressed in the Hungarian style, stood in the assembly of 
the nobles, demanding their support ; when, with one impulse 
and one voice, they cried out, drawing their sabres, " Mori- 
arnuvpro rege nostro, 3Iaria TheresicC'' — " Let us die for Maria 
Theresa, our king." She opened the campaign at the end 
of the year 1741, with few regular Austrian troops, her army 
consisting chiefly of Hungarians and Croats. She reoccupied 
Austria ; while Charles Albert went to Prague, which had 
been taken by the united French, Bavarians, and Saxons, 
instead of going to Vienna. At Prague, December 19, he 
was crowned king of Bohemia, and then proceeded to Frank- 
fort, to receive his coi'onation as emperor. For Frederick 
had instigated the plot to deprive the house of Hapsburg of 
the imperial dignity, and Charles Albert actually received 
the election, January 24, 1742. He entered Frankfort in state, 
holding his grand festival January 31, and was crowned as 
Charles VII. February 12th ; but while he was with Belleisle, 
who managed every thing for him, in the old imperial city, 
the Austrian army with its barbarous allies invaded Bavaria, 
and even entered Munich (February 13). 

§ 10. Frederick II., when his first negotiations Avith Austria 
failed, entered into a closer alliance with France and Bavaria, 
and in 1742 invaded Moravia, took Olmiitz, and besieged 
Briinn, while his light cavalry scoured the country toward 
Vienna and Presburg. But the vigorous movement of the 
Austrians to Bavaria forced him to return. He marched to 



502 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book V. 




Charles VII. (1742-1 T45). 

Bohemia, to join his allies there. He was followed by an 
Austrian army larger than his own under Charles of Lor- 
raine, Maria Theresa's brother-in-law, and was unexpectedly 
attacked by them at Chotusitz, near Czaslau, May 17, 1742. 
The French forces then in Bohemia failed to co-operate with 
the Prussians, who were left to fight the battle alone. But 
the wonderful discipline of the Prussians, and the superiority 
of their cavalry, obtained for Frederick a decisive victory. 
Immediately after the battle he obtained conclusive proof 
of the insincerity of his French allies, who had long been en- 
deavoring to make a separate peace with Austria, and he be- 
came more eager than ever to terminate the war. The Brit- 
ish government exercised its great influence with Maria The- 
resa, in favor of peace, and on July 11, 1742, a treaty was 
signed at Breslau, by which Silesia and the county of Glatz 



Chap. XXII. SECOND SILESIAN WAK. 503 

were ceded and forever confirmed to Frederick and his heirs. 
The Austrian Queen was from the first dissatisfied with these 
terms, and murmured against her allies, and especially George 
II. of England, for requiring of her so great a sacrifice, but 
she was without the means of prolonging the war alone. 
Frederick returned to his capital in triumph, and was wel- 
comed with enthusiasm by his people, who now for the first 
time began to call him Frederick the Great. 

§ 11. Maria Theresa then carried on the war successfully 
against France and Bavaria. Austrian troops reached the 
Main and the Rhine, then joined the English under George 
II., and defeated the French and Bavarians at Dettingen, 
near Hanau, June 27, 1743. Charles Albeit was driven from 
his own country, and his cause was desperate. A new alli- 
ance was formed at Worms between Austria, England, Hol- 
land, and Sardinia, by which all the Austrian lands were 
guaranteed to Maria Theresa. She now hoped to obtain 
Bavaria as a compensation for Silesia. Saxony found its 
hopes of securing Upper Silesia destroyed by the Peace of 
Breslau, and joined the league. Frederick II. saw that these 
proceedings were a preparation for attacking him and re- 
covering Silesia for Austria, and that it would not be wise 
to permit France and Bavaria to be crushed. He therefore 
embraced the cause of Charles Albert, and led eighty thousand 
men into Bohemia, in August, 1744, while the French ad- 
vanced from the Rhine. Thus began the Second Silesian 
War of 1744-45. Frederick found Bohemia almost with- 
out a garrison; captured Prague, September. 17, and ad- 
vanced far southward into the country. But the want of 
supplies, owing to the hostility of the Catholic population 
and the destruction of some of his stores, compelled him to 
withdraw into Silesia in the autumn. The French, too, failed 
to send him eflacient aid, so that the Austrians were able 
during the winter to enter Silesia itself, and take possession 
of a great part of it. Thus the campaign ended unfortunately 
for the king. On January 8, 1745, the " quadruple alliance" 
was formed at Warsaw, between England, Austria, Holland, 
and Saxony, to wrest Silesia from Prussia, and reduce the rank 
of that monarchy. Thus Frederick found himself face to face 
with an enemy of far superior force, and that when his treasury 



504 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V, 

was exhausted. But the brilliant battle of Hohenfriedberg, 
fought June 4, 1*745, saved him. The Prussian cavali-y and 
infantry vied with each other in heroism. The Baireuth 
regiment alone, under General Gessler, captured sixty-seven 
standards, and was ever afterward permitted to carry the 
number "6*7" on its cartridge-boxes. This victory enabled 
Frederick to drive the enemy entirely out of Silesia, and to 
invade Bohemia. But here he met with other difficulties, 
and the enemy with superior numbers fell upon him at Sor, 
September 30, 1745 ; but Prussian disciplined valor again con- 
verted surprise into victory. Frederick however continued 
his retreat to Silesia. The Austrians and Saxons, supposing 
him much weakened, undertook to attack the Marches. But 
he defeated the Saxons at Hennersdorf, near Gurlitz, and then 
marched to Dresden, while Leopold of Dessau advanced up 
the Elbe from Magdeburg. England had already opened 
negotiations for peace when Leopold, spurred by a sharp 
letter from the king, attacked the Saxons and Austrians at 
Kesselsdorf, near Dresden, December 15, 1745, and after a 
severe struggle gained a complete victory. This was the 
last achievement of '' the Old Dessauer," who died of apoplexy 
April 7, 1747. The Peace of Dresden was made immediately 
after the battle, on Christmas-day, 1 745, confirming the Peace 
of Breslau, with conditions very unfavorable to Saxony, 
which was made to pay Prussia the expenses of the war. 

§ 12. This war brought Frederick an additional gain, in 
that he obtained, through his ally Charles Albert, the con- 
firmation of the reversion of East Friesland, which had been 
long ago granted to the house of Brandenburg, and which, 
when in 1744 the house of Cirksena became extinct, Fred- 
erick, with the emperor's consent, annexed to Prussia. This 
territory, advantageously situated on the sea, was afterward 
an object of Frederick's peculiar care. But his resources 
were all needed for the army, and he was never able to carry 
out the Great Elector's plan of building a navy, so that this 
coast, Avith its fine harbor, remained unimproved. Frederick, 
however, was now sincerely resolved to be at peace, and foi- 
the next ten years devoted his energies, with singular ability 
and success, to the improvement of his government and the 
welfare of his people. Prussia gi'ew rapidly in wealth .'ind 



Chap. XXII. FRANCIS I. BECOMES EMPEROR. 



505 



prosperity, and perhaps gained as much in the respect of 
foreign powers by the quiet and unrecorded progress of this 
peaceful interval as by the conquests which preceded it. 

§ 13, Charles Albert (Charles VII.) died at Munich, Janu- 
ary 22,1745. His son and heir, Maximilian of Bavaria, not 
only refused to claim the imperial crown, but made peace 
with Maria Theresa at Ftissen, April 22. Frederick II., with 
all the German powers, then consented to accept Francis of 
Lorraine as emperor, and he was formally elected at Frank- 
fort, September 13, as Francis I. (1745-1765). But his wife, 
Maria Theresa, " the Empress," as she was called, continued 
to hold whatever real power was associated with the dignity ; 
and after the treaty of Dresden, she was at peace with all 
Germany. The war with France, however, went on in the 
Austrian Netherlands, where the genius of Marshal Saxe, an 
illegitimate son of Augustus II. of Poland, turned the scale to 




Fraucis I. (1745-1765). 



506 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

the Frencli side. The Austrians were defeated at Fontenay, 
March 1 1, 1745, and nearly the whole country was occujjied by 
the French. But France was out of money, and the shame- 
ful rule of Louis XV. now showed all its weakness, so that 
Maria Theresa obtained favorable terms of peace at Aix in 
1748. France restored all its conquests in the Netherlands. 
But in Italy, Austria lost the duchies of Parma andPiacenza, 
ceding them to a son of King Philip V. of Spain. Maria 
Theresa had ended this perilous war with great honor. But 
she could never overcome her grief at the loss of Silesia, nor 
was this sorrow confined to her alone : it was deeply felt by 
her people and her successors, and had a great influence on 
the foreign policy of Austria, For centuries, France had 
been the great rival and competitor of Austria for the fore- 
most place in Euro]De, and the alliances and diplomacy of the 
house of Hapsburg had been steadily directed to the restraint 
of French ambition. But from this time, the first principle 
of Austrian policy was jealousy of the growth of Prussia; 
and the Hapsburgs often courted the friendship of France, 
even when it was only to be purchased at th^ sacrifice of the 
interests of Germany. ^^ 

§ 14. Silesia, when conquered by Frederick, contained 14,600 
square miles of land, with about 1,100,000 inhabitants (now 
3,600,000). A fair and fruitful land, it had been impoverish- 
ed by misgovernment, and Frederick now gave earnest at- 
tention to its wants. Its agriculture speedily began to pros- 
per, and the foundation was laid for its manufacturing indus- 
try, now a main source of its prosperity. The population, 
though reduced by the war, afterward increased rapidly, and 
within ten years was greater than before. Religious tolera- 
tion was practiced, the Protestant government nowhere op- 
pressing Catholics. Even when the Jesuits were elsewhere 
suppressed and expelled (after 1773), Frederick tolerated 
them in Silesia. The Prussian administration has been wise 
and just, and Silesia is now eminent for its patriotism and its 
loyalty, as well as its prosperity. But neither Frederick's 
ancient shadow of right to Silesia, nor his apparent success, 
must blind us to his crime in seizing it. The land was Aus- 
trian by long prescription, with its people's consent, and to 
what countrv has kinix or nation a better claim ? To violate 



Chap. XXII. ADMINISTRATION OF FREDERICK II. 507 

this right was to unsettle all boundaries — to open the way 
for endless wars. The chief troubles of Frederick II.'s pub- 
lic life resulted from this act, and the student may profitably 
consider whether Prussia might not be almost as much greater 
and happier to-day as its hero-king's fame would be purer 
if he had never entered Silesia. 

§ 15. All the provinces of the monarchy were attended to 
with the same thoughtful care. Frederick, like his lather, 
administered his government as the proprietor of a great es- 
tate, who must watch every thing, and let his personal author- 
ity be felt every where. A better system of administering 
justice was established, and the dignity and independence 
of the judges were made secure. In 1746 the king abolished 
judicial torture throughout his dominions. The organization 
of the state, as left him by his father, was excellent ; in many 
respects it was enough to maintain it. He carefully examined 
both the army and the civil administration in person, in all 
the provinces, every year. In these tours, the sharp eye of 
the king detected every defect. Praise and blame were dis- 
tributed with severe justice, and he always attended to writ- 
ten petitions or complaints from any one, while he was very 
liberal in granting personal interviews. He knew every vil- 
lage church and every estate on his road. When at home, 
his labors were untiring. Regarding incessant activity as a 
king's duty, he could hardly satisfy himself with his work. 
His maxim was to be the first servant of the state. The 
fault of his reign was that he was bent on doing or directing 
every thing himself, not trusting his subordinates to be more 
than his instruments. He wanted secretaries in his cabinet, 
to register his orders, rather than ministers to counsel with 
him. From every part of his domains immediate communi- 
cations, addressed "to the king," poured in upon him. He 
read them himself, and commonly wrote some short marginal 
comment or order upon each, often a cutting and witt}^ 
phrase. His work compelled him to a careful and systemat- 
ic division of his time ; and he was at work in summer at 
four, in winter at five o'clock in the morning. Each hour 
had its allotted task. Yet he found time to walk about the 
various apartments, playing his favorite flute or reading 
aloud ; in the afternoon to ride with his greyhounds in the 



508 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

public squares, and in the evening to enjoy intellectual con-, 
versation, in seeming leisure, often until a late hour of the 
night. 

§ 16. Amid the exacting duties of royalty, Frederick re- 
tained his love of science, poetry, and intellectual society. 
But his favorite circle of friends was soon broken. Several 
of them died, and their places were never entirely filled. 
Frederick's bitter, uncontrollable satire often wounded his 
friends ; but he was deeply attached to them, and after their 
death felt keenly how he had both loved and grieved them. 
In this society, the conversation and the tone were French. 
The literary glories of Louis XIV.'s age had not yet disap- 
peared in France. The French language had reached a much 
higher degree of culture than the German. Frederick was 
not a scholar in the German language. He knew nothing 
of its literary resources, and could neither write nor speak 
it correctly. He had no knowledge of German poetry, save 
of that which appeared during his early years — such as 
the verses of Gottsched and Gellert. But he spoke French 
Avith purity and fluency, and was ambitious for fame as an 
author, and even a poet, in the French tongue. This fond- 
ness for French culture brought him into mental sympathy 
and intercourse with the men of genius then prominent in 
the French literary world, and above all with Voltaire, who 
was the most complete embodiment of that skeptical, mock- 
ing spirit which in its hatred for all superstition was then 
destroying so much that was sacred and venerable. The 
end sought by these men was " illumination ;" and Frederick 
was in earnest in wishing to prepare the Avay for its suprem- 
acy. Germany had been influenced by severe thinkers like 
Leibnitz, or like Wolf, the Halle philosoj^her, whom Frederick 
in his youth had heard and admired. But the king turned 
from the slow and heavy scholarship of the Germans to the 
bright and lively thoughts of the French. He was delighted 
Avhen Voltaire, in 1750, agreed to come to live at Potsdam. 
But a closer intercourse showed the famous poet and so-call- 
ed philosopher in such an unfavorable light that the king let 
him go, not without very bitter language on both sides. Their 
intercourse was afterward renew'ed, but was less cordial than 
before. Other Frenchmen of this " illuminated" school, such 



Chap. XXII. CAUSES OF THE SEVEN -YEARS' WAK. 509 

as La Mettrie, did it no more honor than Voltaire. The Mar- 
quis d'Argens was the only one of them who continued to be 
the king's faithiiil friend, and his death, in 1771, after thirty 
years of sincere friendship, was a severe blow to Frederick. 
His generals and statesmen, however trusted in their own 
work, had no share in this intimate intercourse ; and but a 
few Germans, chiefly tliose who had been members of his 
court as crown-prince at Rheinsberg, were admitted to it. 

§ 17. Frederick, while close in his economy like his father, 
had his grandfather's taste for display, and sjDent much mon- 
ey on great buildings in Berlin and Potsdam. The "new 
opera-house," the Catholic church, and the cathedral were 
built in Berlin during the early years of his reign, and the 
library afterward. At Potsdam he built Sans-Souci on its 
charming terrace, with its commanding and beautiful view, 
for his own residence in hours both of work and of recrea- 
tion. 

§ 18. The condition of Europe, meanwhile, grew more 
threatening for Frederick, Maria Theresa could not give 
up the thought of Silesia. From the year 1746 there had 
been a growing friendship between her and Elizabeth, Em- 
press of Russia, Peter the Great's daughter — a woman whose 
abandoned life had been often and openly scofled at by Fred- 
erick, so that he had forfeited her good-will. Austria had 
also striven, under the guidance of Prince Kaunitz, the em- 
press's prime-minister, to obtain a reconciliation with France; 
and although the French alliance with Prussia was renewed 
in 1751, the Austrian interest was earnestly supported in Paris 
by the Marquise de Pompadour, the powerful mistress of 
Louis XV., and her party. Kaunitz himself visited Paris, and 
Maria Theresa reluctantly stooped to send a present to Pom- 
padour. At length the enmity which had subsisted between 
these nations for nearly three centuries was forgotten. En- 
gland, under George II., had hitherto been the ally of Maria 
Theresa, and no friend of Prussia. George did not like his 
nephew Frederick — he was afraid of losing Hanover ; and he 
had therefore made a treaty with Elizabeth of Russia, by 
which she was to threaten Prussia on the east, if Prussia 
should make any attempt on George's favorite country. 
These strange alliances left Frederick alone. Then, in 1756, 



510 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

the long-smouldering hostility between the English and the 
French broke out in their American colonies into open war, 
France might perhaps transfer the scene of war to Europe, 
and occupy the Austrian Netherlands, which Austria would 
eagerly give up in exchange for Silesia, if France would help 
to wrest the latter from Frederick ; and then Hanover would 
be in danger. These considerations drove George II. to the 
side of Prussia, but not as an honorable and sincere ally ; 
while France and Austria only made a secret alliance. Au- 
gustus III. of Saxony and Poland, and his minister Bruhl, 
knew and fostered all the plans hostile to Frederick, but did 
not formally join in the alliance. These plans looked to 
nothing less than the dismemberment of Prussia, and the re- 
duction of Frederick to the grade of power possessed by the 
electors, his predecessors. Frederick learned from his ad- 
mirer Peter, the heir to the Russian throne, that he was to 
be attacked in 1757, but that meanwhile the preparations of 
Russia and Austria were incomplete. He therefore resolved 
to anticipate his enemies, to make Saxony the basis of his 
campaign, and to take possession of Bohemia. He hoped to 
end this war, like the first two Silesian wars, with a few vig- 
orous blows. Once more, however, he yielded to England, 
and in July, 1756, demanded of Maria Theresa an explana- 
tion of her military preparations, or at least an assurance 
that he should not be attacked that year or the next. The 
answer was at first evasive; a second demand met with a 
repulse, and Frederick resolved immediately to take up arms. 



CHAPTER XXin. 

THE "seven -years' WAR," 1756-1 763. 

§ 1. Frederick II. Invades i^axony and Captures the Saxon Army. § 2. 
Alliance to Partition Prussia. § 3. Frederick Invades Bohemia ; Battle 
and Siege of Prague. § 4. The Campaign in Prussia and in Brunswick. 
§ 5. Battle of Kossbach. § 6. Battle of Leuthen. § 7. The French Driven 
from Hanover. § 8. The Russians again in Prussia. § 9. Frederick De- 
feated at Hochkirch. § 10. And again at Kunersdorf. § 11. His Cam- 
paign Ends Unfiworably. § 12. Prussian Exhaustion in 17(50. § 13. 
Frederick's Losses in Silesia and Saxony. § 14. His Victory at Liegnitz. 
§ 15. Battle of Torgau. § 16. Frederick's Extreme Danger. § 17. 
Death of the Czarina Elizabeth, and its Consequences. Peace between 
England and France. § 18. Peace of Hubertsburg. § 19. Frederick's 
Achievements in this War. 

§ 1. On August 29, 1756, Frederick led 70,000 men, in three 
columns, into Saxony. This invasion of another country in 
time of peace was plausibly denounced by his enemies as a 
gross breach of public law. The Saxon army of 18,000 took 
up a strong position at Pirna, which Frederick invested 
closely, while Augustus III. of Saxony and Poland, with his 
minister Briihl, sought refuge in the impregnable fortress of 
Konigstein. The obstinate resistance of the Saxon army 
overthrew Frederick's plan of occupying Saxony and con- 
quering Bohemia at a blow. The Austrian General Brown 
led an Austrian array of 33,000 men from Bohemia to rescue 
Saxony. It fell in with a corps of observation which Fred- 
erick led forth in person, consisting of all the men he could 
spare from the investment of Pirna. A fierce battle was 
fought October 1,1756, at Lowositz, on the left bank of the 
Elbe. The Austrians, among whom a better system of train- 
ing had been introduced since the Silesian wars, fought well, 
and kept off the Prussian cavalry, until the infantry came 
up, who charged them at the point of the bayonet, burned 
Lowositz, and drove them off. Frederick wrote to Schwerin : 
"Since I have had the honor to command troops, I nevei' 
saw such prodigies of valor." But the Austrians retreated 



512 HISTORY OF GEHMANY. Book V. 

unmolested. Brown even advanced down the right bank of 
the Elbe, over the mountains of Schandau, into " Saxon Switz- 
erland," in order to rescue the Saxons. But they were so 
badly fed and led that they could do nothing. They crossed 
the Elbe, but stood under the Lilienstein helpless and starv- 
ing, exposed for three days to a continuous rain, and within 
reach of the Prussian batteries. Brown could wait no long- 
er in his dangerous position, but retreated, and the Saxons, 
still 16,000 strong, surrendered at discretion, October 16, 
1756. Frederick released the officers on parole, but forced 
the soldiers to enlist in his own regiments, whence they de- 
serted by companies upon every opportunity. The Elector 
Augustus was permitted, with Briihl, to leave Saxony. He 
went to his kingdom of Poland, and never returned ; nor was 
he able to unite that distracted country sufficiently to un- 
dertake a new campaign against Frederick. The Prussians 
went into winter -quarters in Saxony; and Frederick col- 
lected recruits, gathered the resources of that rich country 
for a new campaign, and published the complete proofs, found 
in the Dresden archives, of the hostile course of the Saxon 
government. 

§ 2. France now openly joined the alliance of the two em- 
presses, subsidized princes of the Rhine and of South Ger- 
many, Cologne, the Palatinate, Wirtemberg, and Bavaria, 
and influenced Sweden to declare war against Frederick. 
The plan of dismembering Prussia was now ready. Russia 
was to have East Prussia, Austria should have Silesia and 
parts of Lausitz ; Lower Pomerania should go to Sweden, 
Magdeburg and Halberstadt to Saxony, and France should 
find satisfaction in Belgium and Luxemburg. With Aus- 
tria, of course, came also the German Emjiire : a power held, 
however, in such contempt that when, in after-years, the no- 
tary of the empire once attempted to " hint " to the Prussian 
embassador. Von Plotho, the danger of the ban of the em- 
pire, that dignitary simply showed him the door, Frederick 
stood against half Europe, supported by England alone, 
which took into its pay the troops of Brunswick, Hesse-Cas- 
sel, Gotha, and Lippe, and made of them an army for the 
protection of Hanover, England also granted Frederick a 
subsidy of £150,000, on condition that he should contribute 



Chap. XXIII. INVASION OF BOHEMIA. 513 

20,000 men to this army. But he had to rely mainly on his 
own genius, his admirable army of 200,000 men, his fine corps 
of officers, mostly noblemen of his countiy, and such tried 
generals as the veteran Schwerin, his personal friend Win- 
terfeld, the bold Keith, the cunning Ziethen, and the Ger- 
man princes Maurice of Anhalt and Ferdinand of Brunswick- 
Bevern. He visited Berlin once more, and instructed his 
minister Finck what should be done if he should fall or 
be taken prisoner. In the latter event, he insisted, no ac- 
count should be made of him, no province given as ransom, 
but the war should be carried on as if he were dead. Aus- 
tria had gained strength since the peace at Aix, and Fred- 
erick found himself opposed to an army formed on his own 
model, and led by able generals. But the Austrian prepara- 
tions were still incomplete, and the Russian and French ar- 
mies were still far away. Frederick could still renew the 
plan of the previous year. If he could first defeat Austria, 
he and Winterfeld thought, the rest of " the proud waves" 
would soon subside. 

§3. On April 18, 1757, Frederick entered Bohemia with 
117,000 men in four columns. There were 133,000 Austrians 
before them, under Charles of Lorraine and Brown, scattered 
from Moravia to the Eger. Frederick directed his march 
to Prague, when Brown hastily concentrated the Austrian 
troops. On May 6, about 64,000 Prussians and 60,000 Aus- 
trians met before the city. The Austrians held a strong po- 
sition on the heights east of the Moldau, which the Prussians 
could only reach through marshy meadows. Here the storm- 
ing columns of the famous Prussian infantry, as they ad- 
vanced, were mowed down by the Austrian fire. The soldiers 
were wavering, when old Marshal Schwerin, now seventy- 
three years of age, snatched a standard from a fleeing ensign, 
and shouted," On, my children !" At the instant he fell, struck 
by four grape-shot. New battalions advanced and were cut 
down. Nearly all of Frederick's generals leaped from their 
horses, and led their troops in person, sword in hand. Finally 
Frederick himself seized the decisive moment, broke through 
the enemy's line, just after their cavalry had been driven 
back in confusion ; and now the heights, after a bloody con- 
flict, were taken, and the Austrians driven into the city of 

Ll 



514 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

Prague, Brown, who commanded them, under Charles of 
Lorraine, was mortally wounded. The king undertook the 
siege of Prague, where the enemy still had about 50,000 men. 
The city was reduced to extremities by want and sickness, 
and by the Prussian fire; when Frederick learned that an Aus- 
trian army of relief under General Daun was advancing from 
the Upper Elbe against him. He hoped to repeat his operation 
of the previous year: to defeat Daun by leading forward de- 
tachments to strengthen his advance guard under Brunswick- 
Bevern, and then to make sure of Prague. But the Austrian 
"general had 54,000 men, in a very strong position at Kolin, 
where Frederick, with but 31,000 men, attacked him, June 
18, 1757 ; and here his career of victory was broken. A mis- 
take was made in directing the attack, which led to disorder 
in the right wing of the Prussian army ; and, though Daun 
himself had given up the battle, and ordered a retreat, the 
Prussian forces were exhausted and compelled to abandon 
their attempt. 

§ 4. During the siege of Prague, Sweden, under promise of 
receiving Pomerania in the division of the spoils, joined the 
allies (May 21), so that Prussia was now assailed by Russia, 
France, Sweden, and Austria, with the German Empire. This 
defeat in Bohemia entirely shattered Frederick's plans. He 
had hoped to humble Austria swiftly, and to dictate peace 
at Vienna ; but now his work was to defend himself His 
light troops scoured the country as far as Bavaria, and he 
had ventured to imagine that Bavaria and other countries 
of the empire might join him. But now he was compelled to 
raise the siege of Prague ; and, after waiting a while in Bo- 
hemia, to no purpose, for the enemy to give him an oppor- 
tunity for a blow, to return to Saxony. The Russians now 
invaded the province of Prussia, and defeated his old general, 
Lehwald, at Gross-Jagersdorf, August 30,1757. The Russians 
had committed frightful atrocities, and Frederick indignantly 
ordered Lehwald to fight them immediately, though he had 
but 25,000 men against 80,000. He did so, and was sadly 
beaten, and all the province of Prussia lay at the mercy of 
the Russians. But their general, Apraxin, instead of follow- 
ing up his yictory, retreated rapidly, upon a rumor that the 
death of the Empress Elizabeth, and the accession of Fred- 



Chap. XXHI. THE VICTORY OF KOSSBACH. 515 

erick's friend Peter III. to the throne, was hourly expected. 
Lehwald then turned against the Swedes, who had invaded 
Pomerania and the Ucker district, and easily expelled them. 
But an army of Austrians under Daun entered Silesia, and 
it seemed that they had permanently recovered that region. 
The French, too, advanced threateningly, in two armies 
crossing the Rhine. The first, under D'Estrees, defeated the 
Duke of Cumberland, George II.'s son, and his English and 
Hanoverian troops, at Hastenbek, near Hameln, July 28, 1T57; 
and then succeeded in leading and driving him into the angle 
between the mouths of the Weser and the Elbe. Here Riche- 
lieu, who succeeded D'Estrees, induced Cumberland to con- 
clude the convention of Closter-Zeven, September 7, and 
thus expose Hanover, Brunswick, and all Frederick's western 
frontier to the French, whose troops actually ravaged the 
country as far eastward as the Elbe. 

§ 5. The second French army, under the Prince of Soubise, 
Ibrmed a junction with the imperial army in Thuringia, and 
went on, 50,000 strong, toward Saxony and the Saale. 
Frederick had been eager to go to Silesia ; but he now 
turned against this French force, which his general, Seidlitz, 
first surprised and frightened by a lively cavalry dash at 
Gotta. At Rossbach, west of the Saale, near Merseburg, the 
armies met, November 5, 1757. At noon the Prussians were 
still in their tents, and Frederick sat quietly at dinner ; 
while the French undertook a wide detour, in order to cut 
off" the retreat of the Prussians, hoping to capture the whole 
body, and having no apprehension but of their escape. The 
Prussians suddenly formed in line, marched, and their cavalry 
fell upon the flank of the enemy like a storm. The French 
were panic-struck, and the day was for the Prussians more 
like a hunt than a battle. Frederick had in all 22,000 men, 
not half of whom were actually engaged ; the I'rench and 
imperial troops numbered more than 50,000. Frederick lost 
165 killed and 376 wounded; the enemy lost nearly 3000 
killed and wounded, and 5000 prisoners, with their artillery 
and baggage ; and their army was utterly destroyed, so that 
it could not be rallied again. This astonishing victory at 
once made Frederick the heio of Europe, and especially of 



516 ' HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

Germany, where the people of all countries and classes were 
glad to see French pride humbled. 

§ 6. But serious work was yet to be done. General Winter- 
feld, a favorite and friend of the king, fell at Moys, in Silesia, 
in an unsuccessful battle with the Austrians. The Duke of 
Brunswick-Bevern conducted a skillful retreat to Breslau, 
before an Austrian army of 80,000, commanded by Daun and 
Charles of Lorraine. The Austrians besieged the fortress of 
Schweidnitz; and Brunswick-Bevern neglected his oppor- 
tunity, when the enemy were divided and the inspiriting 
news of the victory of Rossbach arrived, to strike a decisive 
blow. After the fall of Schweidnitz, the reunited Austrian 
army was hopelessly superior to him ; he was taken prisoner 
(November 25) in a reconnoissance, which he was himself 
suspected of planning to escape Frederick's indignation, 
and Breslau fell into the hands of the Austrians. But the 
little Prussian army of 28,000 remained near, till Frederick 
came in person with 14,000 men, and took the command. 
Charles of Lorraine imprudently left his strong lines, and ad- 
vanced to Leuthen to meet the Prussians. The decisive day 
was come, Avhen Frederick must conquer or be lost. He ad- 
dressed his generals, contrary to his custom, saying, " I am 
about to violate all the rules of war, by attacking a threefold 
superior force where I find it. We must beat the enemy, or 
we must all perish before his batteries. Such will be my 
course ; do you, too, remember that you are Prussians. But 
if any one of you is afraid to share with me the extreme of 
danger, he may take his departure to-day, without a word 
of reproof from me." The king's large eye gazed around in- 
quiringly, and read on every glowing face the answer of his 
veterans. He then went on, in the voice of a king: "Any 
regiment of cavalry which does not, at the word of command, 
throw itself unhesitatingly upon the foe, shall be dismounted 
immediately after the battle, and sent to garrison duty. Any 
battalion of infantry Avhich once falters, in any straits, shall 
lose its standards and side-arms, and the border shall be cut 
from its uniform. Farewell, gentlemen. We shall soon have 
beaten the enemy, or we shall meet no more." The day of 
battle, December 5, 1V57, found the soldiers eager and confi- 
dent. "The fifth has come again," they cried; "Rossbach 



Ch.u'. XXlll. FREDERICK'S VICTORY AT LEUTHEN. 517 

again." Frederick called for Ziethen, and said : " I must ex- 
pose myself to-day more than usual. If I fall, cover the 
body with your cloak and tell no man. The battle must go 
on, and the enemy will be beaten." Frederick was familiar 
with the ground, and made good use of its natural features. 
Under cover of a range of low hills, he collected most of his 
infantry, and threw them, in what was called "the oblique 
order" of battle, on the surprised left wing of the Austrians. 
These attempted once more to turn the day against him by 
a grand cavalry charge ; but it was repulsed by Frederick's 
own cavalry, and he then attacked and crushed the enemy's 
right wing. The victory was won, and the whole Prussian 
army sung their thanksgiving hymn at night on the battle- 
field. Frederick narrowly, and by great presence of mind, 
escaped capture at Lissa that evening. Before the end of the 
year he had driven the enemy from Silesia, and he ended the 
campaign of 1757 without loss of territory, and with great 
honor to himself 

§ 7. Before the end of 1757, England began to take a more 
active part on the Continent. Lord Chatham brought about 
the rejection of the convention of Closter-Zeven by Parlia- 
ment, and the recall of Cumberland by the king. The effi- 
cient Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick was proposed by Fred- 
erick, and made commander of the English and Hanoverian 
forces. He opened the campaign of 1758 in the winter. The 
French, under Clermont, being without discipline or control, 
he drove them in headlong flight out of their winter-quarters 
in Hanover and Westphalia, to the Rhine and across it ; and 
on June 23 defeated them at the battle of Crefeld. A 
French army under Soubise afterward crossed the Rhine 
higher up, and Ferdinand retreated, but succeeded in pro- 
tecting the west as far as the Weser against General Con- 
tades. 

§ 8.. Frederick first retook Schweidnitz, April 16. He then, 
in order to prevent the junction of the Russians and Aus- 
trians, ventured to attack Austria, and invaded Moravia. 
His brother, Prince Henry, had but a small force in Saxony, 
and Frederick thought that he could best cover that country 
by an attack on Austria. But the siege of Olmtitz detained 
liim from May until July, and his prospects grew more doubt- 



518 HISTOEY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

ful. Tlie Austrians captured a convoy of three hundred wag- 
ons of military stores, which Ziethen was to have escorted to 
him. Frederick raised the siege, and, by an admirable re- 
treat, brought his army through Bohemia by way of Konig- 
gratz to Landshut. Here he received bad news. The Rus- 
sians, under Fermor, were again in Prussia, occupying the 
eastern province, but treating it mildly as a conquered coun- 
try, where the empress already i-eceived the homage of the 
people. They then advanced, with frightful ravages, through 
Pomerania and Neumark to the Oder, and were now near 
Kiistrin, which they laid in ashes. Frederick made haste to 
meet them. He was so indignant at the desolation of the 
country and the suffering of his people that he forbade 
quarter to be given. The report of this fact also embittered 
the Russians. At Zorndort^ Frederick met the enemy, fifty 
thousand strong, August 25, 1758. They were drawn up 
in a great square or phalanx, in the ancient, half-barbarous 
manner. A frightfully bloody fight followed, since the Rus- 
sians would not yield, and were cut down in heaps. Seidlitz, 
the victor of Rossbach, by a timely charge of his cavalry, 
captured the Russian artillery, and crushed their right wing. 
On the second day the Russians were driven back, but not 
without inflicting heavy loss on the Prussians, who, though 
they suffered much less than their enemies, left more than 
one third of their force on the field. The Russians were com- 
pelled to withdraw from Prussia. 

§ 9. Frederick then hastened to Saxony, where his brother 
Henry was sorely pressed by Daun and the imperial army. 
He could not even wait to relieve Silesia, where Neisse, his 
principal fortress, was threatened. Daun, hearing of his ap- 
proach, took up a position in his way, between Bautzen and 
Gorlitz. But Frederick, whose contempt for this prudent 
and slow general was excessive, occupied a camp in a weak 
and exposed position, at Hochkirch, under Daun's very eyes^ 
against the protest of his own generals. He remained there 
three days unmolested; but on October 14, the day fixed for 
advancing, the Austrians attacked him with twice his numbers. 
A desperate fight took place in the burning village ; the Prus- 
sians were driven out, and lost many guns. Frederick him- 
self was in imminent danger, and his friends Keith and Duke 



Chap. XXIII. FREDERICK DEFEATED AT KUNERSDORF. 519 

Francis of Brunswick fell at his side. Yet the army did not 
lose its spirit or its discipline. Within eleven days Frederick, 
who had been joined by his brother Henry, was in Silesia, 
and relieved Neisse and Kosel. Thus the campaign of 1758 
ended favorably to Frederick. The pope sent Daun a con- 
secrated hat and sword, as a testimonial for his victory at 
Hochkirch. 

§ 10. The resources of the king were now exhausted, and 
the British subsidy of £150,000 was far from enough to meet 
his wants. He attempted to negotiate for peace, but failed, 
and could only prepare for yet another campaign. The Rus- 
sians and Austrians (1V59) threatened to form a junction in 
Silesia, and so to deprive him entirely of this province. Fred- 
erick therefore went thither, to watch Daun, sending against 
the Russians, first Dohna, and then Wedell, with dictato- 
rial powers. But the small forces of the Prussians were de- 
feated by overwhelming numbers of Russians at Kai, near 
Ziillichau, July 23, and Frederick could not prevent the union 
of Laudon and Soltykof, forming a body of more than 70,000 
men. Frederick, by his utmost efforts, and leaving but a 
small army under Prince Henry to observe Daun, could mus- 
ter but 48,000 men. Yet he attacked the enemy in their 
extremely strong position at Kunersdorf, on the right bank 
of the Oder, opposite Frankfort, August 12, 1759, and seemed 
for a time to have Avon the battle ; but an attempt Avith the 
weary troops to throw back the right Aving of the Russians 
broke down, and Laudon then assumed the offensive, in- 
flicting on Frederick the most complete defeat he ever ex- 
perienced. His army seemed to be ruined — he was able 
to keep together barely five thousand men — and there was 
no apparent Avay of saving his capital and his kingdom. 
The result Avould probably have been his utter overthrow, 
had Laudon's advice been followed, and had the allies hasten- 
ed forward to Berlin. But they soon disagreed and parted. 
The Russians, not willing to help Austria to become supreme 
in Germany, returned to Pomerania, Avhere they besieged Col- 
berg, a little town Avith a small garrison, which resisted he- 
roically. Laudon marched into Silesia. 

§ 11. Frederick was deeply humiliated by his misfortunes; 
but he determined not to survive a dissrraceful end of this 



520 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

war. He sought his personal comfort in the society and 
sympathy of friends or in poetry. Nor had his trials yet 
reached an end. Dresden was taken by the imperial army, 
September 4 ; and General Finck with eleven thousand men 
was compelled at Maxen, near Dresden, to capitulate to a 
force three times as large (November 21). There was but 
one gleam of success this year. Duke Ferdinand of Bruns- 
wick was indeed repulsed by Broglie and his French at 
Bergen, April 13, in a vigorous effort to recover possession 
of Frankfort -on-the-Main; but at Minden, on August 1, he 
defeated Contades and Broglie, and thus rescued Westphalia 
from the devastation which had been decreed at Paris, and 
saved Frederick from being ruinously placed between two 
enemies. He was even able to send some reinforcements to 
Frederick, with Prince Charles William Ferdinand of Bruns- 
wick, and they now joined him in Saxony. Frederick still 
held half of Saxony, and kept his army there in winter-quar- 
ters. The rest was under Daun's control. All Silesia, except 
the fortresses, was in the hands of the enemy. An earnest 
attempt to negotiate a peace was made by Prussia in Novem- 
ber, supported by England and France ; but the Austrians 
and Russians, who were intoxicated with victory, refused to 
enter into negotiations. 

§ 12. The beginning of the year 1760 brought no improve- 
ment in Frederick's situation. George II. of England died 
October 25 ; the Tory ministry of Earl Bute succeeded Lord 
Chatham's cabinet, and the subsidy was not renewed. Fred- 
erick's treasury was exhausted, and he was driven to ex- 
treme measures. He debased the coinage, and oppressed 
the neighboring territories of the empire, especially Meck- 
lenburg, Anhalt, and the Franconian circle, with heavy con- 
tributions. Nor was it easy to find new soldiers, now that 
most of his veterans lay on the fields of battle. When fortune 
seemed to desert him, those swarms of adventurers who had 
sought service with him disappeared, and his own country 
no longer sufiiced to supply the necessary number of men. 
Some of the provinces, like Pomerania, indeed, organized a 
militia for their own protection. Frederick's recruiting ofii- 
cers used every means in their |>ower, good and bad, to ob- 
tain troops in all parts of Germany. It was with an army 



Chap. XXIII. THE ALLIES IN BERLIN. 521 

thus laboriously gathered that he entered on the new cam- 
paign. 

§ 13. His task now was to recover and protect Silesia, 
where the Russians and Austrians threatened again to unite 
for a march to Berlin. Daun kept Frederick busy in Sax- 
ony. He sent his friend P^'ouquet against Laudon, who was 
entering Silesia. But Laudon had three times his force ; so 
that, after a hard fight, in which Fouquet was desperately 
wounded, he was compelled to surrender with seven thousand 
men (June 23, 1760). Frederick had already set out to his 
assistance ; but now turned back to Saxony, and attempted 
to take Dresden by storm, but was repulsed. He bombarded 
the city, but in vain : Daun came to relieve it, and it was 
l)ermanently lost to him. He then really went to Silesia, 
where Glatz had been lost, and Breslau was besieged by 
Laudon, but was heroically defended by General Taueiizien 
with three thousand men against a whole array. A Russian 
army was also expected, and was marching up the right bank 
of the Oder. 

§ 14. Frederick was closely followed by Daun and Lacy, 
and Laudon came to meet liim. Czernichef, the Russian 
general, was also near. Frederick's enemies thought that 
he was shut in among them, and in their power. But at 
Liegnitz, by a sudden and bold attack on Laudon's army, he 
gained one of the most complete and memorable victories of 
the war (August 15, 1760). The Russians then retired, and 
Daun, left alone, did not dare to attack him. The fortune of 
P^rederick seemed to be restored. But now an army of Rus- 
sians under Tottleben, and one of Austrians under Lacy, with 
a corps of Saxons, marched against Berlin ; the former from 
F'rankfort-on-the-Oder, the latter from Lausitz. Berlin had 
but a weak palisading for fortifications, and a little garrison of 
twelve hundred men ; but there chanced to be some efiicient 
generals there convalescing from their wounds, among them 
Seidlitz. The Russians were resisted, and driven back to 
Copenik ; but when the Austrians came, it was feared lest 
further resistance would lead to a sack of the city, and the 
Prussians retired to Spandau. The enemy entered Berlin 
October 9. The Saxons did much waste in tlie royal palaces 
at Charlottenburg and Schonhausen. Esterhazy acted honor- 



522 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

ably at Potsdam. Tottleben finally accepted a contribution 
of 1,500,000 thalers. Hearing that Frederick was approach- 
ing, the enemy hastily fled, October 12, leaving him free to 
return to Saxony. 

§ 15. Here, then, was heavv work before him. Saxony was 
almost entirely in the hands of the allies. Daun was in a 
strong situation at Torgau, and intended to winter in Saxony. 
Frederick, extremely unwilling to abandon Saxony, resolved, 
after much hesitation, to attack him. This battle, fought 
November 3, 1760, was the last of those frightful hand-to- 
hand assaults in which the Seven-Years' War abounded, 
and was the bloodiest of the whole war. Frederick assailed 
the steep heights in front, while Ziethen, who had so con- 
stantly counseled and supported him during the last year of 
trials, was to lead the other half of the army to the enemy's 
rear. But by a misunderstanding, Ziethen was too late, or the 
king's direct attack too early. This error enabled the Aus- 
trians to repel three successive charges of Frederick's men 
upon their front ; nor was it until morning that he learned 
how much the enemy had sufiered, and that they had aban- 
doned the field. Even now his position was extremely dan- 
gerous ; nor could all his eflforts obtain new allies or reason- 
able terms of peace. He even endeavored, in vain, to form 
an alliance with the Turks against Austria, or with a Tartar 
chief against Russia. 

§ 16. When the campaign of 1761 began, Frederick's re- 
sources were so far exhausted that he could act only on the 
defensive. But Austria and Russia renewed the war with 
vigor, in the hope of obtaining large cessions of Prussian ter- 
ritory. An Austrian army under Daun, with its allies of the 
German Empire, occupied Saxony ; and Prince Henry of 
Prussia had but a corps to manoeuvre against it. The French 
remained in Hanover and Herse, but were held in check by 
Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick. The king again took the 
command in Silesia, with 50,000 Prussians, and spent a long- 
time in endeavoring by skillful marches to prevent the junc- 
tion of the Austrians under Laudon and the Russians under 
Butterlin. This was, however, accomplished in spite of him. 
He then fortified to the utmost a camp at Bunzelwitz, near 
Schweidnitz, hoping to make it impregnable even with his 



Chap. XXIII. DEATH OF ELIZABETH OF RUSSIA. 523 

small army. But Laudon surprised and took the fortress of 
Schweidnitz on October 1 ; and before the end of the year 
(December 16) the Russians, who had again entered Pomera- 
nia, captured Colberg, after a long and heroic defense by its 
citizens under General von der Ileyde. At the close of 1761 
Frederick's condition was worse than ever before. Half of 
Silesia and half of Pomerania were lost, and he held but a 
small part of Saxony, The war threatened the heart of his 
country. In spite of Frederick's admirable perseverance, 
and of the disunion and slowness of his enemies, without 
which resistance would long before have been impossible, 
the moment seemed to be at hand when he must yield. But 
the death of a woman changed the entire aspect of the scene. 
§ 17. On January .5, 1762, Elizabeth of Russia died, and was 
succeeded by her nephew, Peter III. of Holstein, a zealous friend 
and imitator of F'rederick. He at once (March 1 6) made an 
armistice, and then (May 5) a final peace with the king, giv- 
ing back all the territory conquered from Prussia. Sweden, 
whose king, Frederick II.'s brother-in-law, had unwillingly 
engaged in the war, was easily prevailed on by Russia to 
join in the peace (May 22). Peter III. even made an alliance 
with Frederick, and sent him ten thousand Russians under 
Czernichef With the help of these troops Frederick was 
about to attack the Austrians, who were on the heights of 
Burkersdorf, when the tidings came like a thunderbolt that 
Peter III. had been deposed by his wife, Catharine II. (July 
10), and soon after murdered (July 14). Catharine, by birth 
a princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, owed her fortune and crown to 
Frederick II., who had negotiated her marriage with the 
Crown-Prince of Russia. In spite of her obligations to the 
king, however, she immediately sent orders to Czernichef to 
leave Frederick, and to hold a strictly neutral attitude in the 
war. But the king persuaded him to conceal the news for 
three days, and meanwhile defeated the Austrians, whose 
right wing was held in check by the Russians, though they 
did not actually fight (August 16). This victory was follow- 
ed by the recovery of Schweidnitz (October 9). Catharine 
soon renewed the treaty with Frederick, finding in Peter's 
papers letters from Frederick, recommending him to treat his 
clever spouse kindly, and to make her his adviser and friend. 



524 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

But Russia thenceforth took no active part in the war, 
France also was now inclined to peace. It had lost im- 
mensely to England in its colonies, and had, on the whole, 
been unfortunate in its campaigns against the English and 
German array of Ferdinand of Brunswick, so that during this 
last year of the war Frederick had nothing to fear from that 
quarter. The negotiations were carried on at Fontainebleau 
in 1762, and the final treaty of peace was concluded at Paris, 
P^ebruary 10, 1763, between France and Spain on one side, and 
England on the other. Large cessions were made to England 
of Spanish and French colonies, but every thing in Germany 
was left as before. 

§ 18. Thus at the end of the year 1762 Austria stood alone 
in the war. On October 29, Prince Henry defeated at Frei- 
burg the imperial army, which came with the Austrians to 
relieve Dresden. After this, the Prussians made raids into 
South Germany, levying contributions, and thus making 
the nobles there eager for peace. A truce was agreed to 
between the only remaining combatants, Austria and Prus- 
sia ; and on February 15, 1763, the Peace of Hubertsbui'g (a 
hunting-seat near Leipsic) was signed. It confirmed the 
treaties of Breslau and of Dresden, leaving Silesia and Glatz 
to Frederick. He in return merely pledged himself, at the 
death of the Emperor Francis I., to give his electoral vote 
for his son Joseph. 

§ 19. During the war thus ended, Frederick defended his 
little country, with a population of scarcely more than 
5,000,000, against nearly all Europe, and yet lost no terri- 
tory. By this defense he saved Germany from dismember- 
ment, both on the Baltic and on the Rhine, and maintained 
the cause of religious freedom. His destruction would have 
been deplorable for Germany. His final success had an in- 
spiriting effect on the German people. He displayed ad- 
mirable personal qualities — wisdom and boldness in pushing 
success, and a patient persistence under misfortunes, which 
made him a popular hero. But he owed much, also, to the 
division of his enemies, their slowness, and their want of fore- 
sight ; and much to events which no wisdom could have an- 
ticipated, especially to the death of the Russian empress 
Elizabeth, just at the time when his cause seemed hopelessly 



I 



C:hap. XXIII. CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR. 525 

lost. That his i-esonvces were immense, in proportion to the 
size of his kingdom, was due to its compact and efficient or- 
ganization, the work of the Great Elector and of Frederick 
William I., as well as of Frederick II. himself. The king's 
devotion to his own work, the faithful allegiance of his sub- 
jects, the fidelity of his officers, and the spirit and honor of 
his soldiers, were elements of power which had no precedents 
in modern times. 

§ 20. Had Frederick been crushed in the Seven-Years' War, 
his kingdom must have fallen to the rank of Portugal or 
Holland, and the history of the last century would have been 
changed indeed. With Austria in possession of Silesia, 
Russia of East Prussia, and France of the left bank of the 
Rhine, it is impossible to conjecture what might have been 
the event of the Napoleonic wars. But the ruin of Prussia 
must surely have been disastrous to Germany. In this wai-, 
Frederick represented what was left of the national con- 
sciousness of the German people. Most of their princes were 
bribed by French money ; most of them fought in behalf of 
foreigners who coveted German soil, and for the supremacy 
among themselves of half-Sclavonic, wholly Roman-Catholic 
Austi'ia. But the people could not fail to see that Frederick's 
victories were German victories, nor to rejoice in German 
valor; and gradually the whole nation was stirred to its 
depths with pride in his achievements. This new feeling 
greatly helped to bring about the wonderful intellectual ac- 
tivity of the times immediately succeeding, and may fairly 
be regarded as the beginning of that sense of unity among 
the Germans which has grown in late years to one of the 
most momentous elements in European history. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

FROM THE PEACE OF HUBERTSBURG TO THE FRENCH REVO- 
LUTION, 1763-1789, 

§ 1. Civil Administration of Frederick II. § 2. Its Results. § 3. Causes of 
the First Partition of Poland, 1 704. § 4. Its Conditions. § 5. Frederick 
Colonizes the New Province. § 6. His Government Paternal and Personal. 
§ 7. His Example among the Germans. § 8. Improvement in Some of 
the Smaller German Courts. § 9. The Governments of the Prelates. 
§ 10. Gross Abuses in Certain States. § 11 . Austria under Maria Theresa. 
§ 12. Joseph II. becomes Emperor; his Zeal for Reform. § 13. His Claims 
upon Bavaria. § 14. The "Potato War." § 15. Joseph Sole Monarch 
of Austria. § 16. Character of Joseph II. § 17. His Policy in Austria. 
§ 18. Leopold II. Emperor, 1790. § 19. Last Days and Death of Fred- 
erick II. § 20. Frederick WilUam II. King of Prussia; Invasion of 
Holland. § 21. His Plans for Aggrandizement Defeated. § 22. De- 
cline of Prussia. § 23. Second Partition of Poland. § 24. LTnsubstantial 
Character of the Prussian Acquisition. § 25. Frederick William's Char- 
acter and Death. § 26. Intellectual Activity in Germany. § 27. Poets in 
the Early Part of the Century. § 28. In the Latter Part. § 29. General 
Literature and Criticism. § 30. National Value of German Literature. 

§ 1. Frederick II. was now generally called " the Great," 
not only in Prussia, but throughout Europe ; and he showed 
himself worthy of the name during the next twenty-three 
years of peace. His first work was to heal the wounds of the 
war. As soon as peace was made, he opened his magazines, 
and distributed seed corn to the peasants. The horses which 
could be spared from artillery and cavalry service were de- 
voted to agriculture. The Prussian nobles had suffered more 
by the war than the citizens or even the peasants. Their es- 
tates had been injured, and they had been peculiarly zealous 
and self-sacrificing. Frederick gave especial attention to 
the wants of this order of men, whom he regarded as the 
strongest pillar of the state, and from whom nearly all his 
army officers were taken. He was careful to replenish his 
treasury, and exercised the closest economy in his own ex- 
penses, so that, out of 1,200,000 thalers set apart for his 
personal use, he expended but 200,000 yearly. He applied 



Chap. XXIV. FREDERICK II. IN PEACE. 527 

the same system to all branches of administration. Thus he 
was able to distribute to needy communities more than 
24,000,000 thalers, and at the end of his life to leave more 
than 60,000,000 thalers in the treasury. He enlarged the 
standing army, expending upon it 13,000,000 out of the 
22,000,000 thalers which formed the total revenue of the 
state ; so that it finally numbered 200,000 men, although the 
whole population was but 6,000,000. He rebuilt fortresses, 
and founded new ones. All this was accomplished only by a 
Spartan economy in the expenses of the court and the sala- 
ries of oiEcers. The army consisted but in part of natives 
of the country, and these were of the lowest class. The 
majority of the soldiers were mercenaries obtained by re- 
cruiting officers in all parts of Germany. An iron discipline 
was maintained in the army, and enforced by punishments 
which were often cruel, such as flogging and running the 
gauntlet. But desertion, though so severely punished, was 
frequent. 

§ 2, The peasantry in Prussia, as in all Germany, in Yred- 
erick's days, were burdened with heavy taxes, duties, and con- 
tributions, and were mostly under the judicial control of their 
landlords. All that could be done for them was to protect 
them from losing their land, and to secure to them the bene- 
fits of the public administration of the law. Frederick did 
all this zealously, and sometimes to the injury of the rights 
of others. On the whole, the peasants were still a wretched, 
slavish, and oppressed set of men. The citizens in the cities 
grew richer, but had not attained the free self-confidence and 
bold enterprise of our own days. The government was looked 
to for every thing : it must establish factories, and mills for 
spinning and weaving, by bounties and privileges, or carry 
on the business as a state monopoly. Meanwhile a class of 
rich merchants grew up in the cities; and certain Jewish 
families, in such cities as Berlin, became distinguished for 
their wealth and even their intelligence. But the old spirit 
of citizenship — narrow, pious, and with a high sense of honor — 
prevailed in general. There were as yet but a few enlight- 
ened minds to take part in the great intellectual revival, and 
in the new era of German poetry. 

§ 3. Nine years after the Peace of Hubertsburg, Frederick 



528 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

made a bloodless conquest, almost as important as that of 
Silesia, by the first partition of Poland. That kingdom had 
been entirely disintegrated by the unbridled independence 
of the nobility. The suggestion of a division of the king- 
dom among the neighboring monarchies was first made by 
Catharine II. to Prince Henry of Prussia in conversation. It 
was zealously taken up by Frederick, who devoted all his 
energies to it, until it was finally accomplished. After the 
Seven- Years' War, Frederick deeply felt the danger of stand- 
ing alone. Lord Bute's offer, in 1762, to Russia and Austria, 
to dismantle Prussia for their benefit, if Russia would aban- 
don the alliance with Frederick, showed him how little se- 
curity the friendship of England gave him. He therefore 
formed a defensive alliance with Catharine II., April 11, 1V64, 
by which each party guaranteed to the other for eight years 
the integrity of its dominions, and both bound themselves to 
sustain the constitution of Poland. Both these powers had 
already interfered in Poland to protect the Protestants and 
Greeks, who had been persecuted by the Catholic authorities. 
This gave them an opportunity for constant intermeddling, 
and for increasing the confusion and lawlessness of the coun- 
try. Frederick saw with anxiety the rapid growth of Rus- 
sia, and its threatening ascendency, and thought that the 
partition of Poland would counteract it. Courland, a Ger- 
man district, with its own duke, was ali-eady a mere depend- 
ency of Russia. All Europe was threatened Avith danger 
in case Catharine II. should carry out her long-cherished 
plan of conquering Turkey and Constantinople, as she cer- 
tainly hoped to do in this war. Russia already treated Po- 
land as a subject country, and unquestionably meditated its 
acquisition, while Poland, already I'uined by its own faults, 
could not possibly preserve any national life. Frederick re- 
garded the question as simply whether he should leave all 
the booty to Russia, or obtain a share of it for himself and 
for Austria. The young emperor, Joseph II., who came to 
the throne in 1765, was an admirer of Fredei'ick, and was ex- 
tremely, ambitious to enlarge his own dominions. 

§ 4. In their common anxiety concerning Russia's rapid 
progress in power, the emperor and Frederick II. came togeth- 
er: Joseph visiting the king in 1769 at Neisse, and receiving a 



Chap. XXIV. THE FIRST PARTITION OF POLAND. 529 

visit in return the next year at Neustadt in Moravia. Ne- 
gotiations were carried on with both powers skillfully and 
for a long time; but it was not until February, 1772, that 
Frederick came to a definite agreement with Russia as to 
the terms of the partition. In March, Austria acceded to the 
proposition, and on August 5 the treaty of partition was 
signed at St. Petersburg. By this act Russia obtained the 
largest share — about 87,500 square miles, with 1,800,000 in- 
habitants; Austria took the most fertile and populous dis- 
tricts, Galicia and Lodomiria, in all 62,500 square miles, 
with nearly 3,000,000 inhabitants; and Prussia received only 
the bishopric of Ermeland, West or Polish Prussia, and the 
Netze district, without the cities of Dantzie and Thorn, in 
all 9465 square miles, with a population of about 600,000. 
But this territory lay between Brandenburg and East Prus- 
sia, and its acquisition filled up a dangerous gap in Fred- 
erick's dominions; so that Prussia was probably more 
strengtliened than either of its confederates. Poland was 
deprived in all of one third of its area and one half of its 
population, but the remaining territory was "guaranteed" 
by the powers. The Empress Maria Theresa was long re- 
luctant to assent to the partition ; and when she did so, it 
was in these words : " Placet^ since so many great and learn- 
ed men will have it so ; but long after I am dead it will be 
known what this violating of all that was hitherto held sa- 
cred and just will give rise to." 

§ 5. The land thus acquired by Frederick, except the Netze 
district, had been part of the territory of the German order, 
but had been wrested from it in the time of German weak- 
ness and shame, under the Emperor Frederick III. The 
land itself was waste and ruined, wjith a poor, proud, and un- 
controlled nobility, and a savage peasantry. There was 
scarcely any thing like a city ; and whatever there was of 
trade or manufacturing industry was in the hands of the 
Jews. Frederick gave careful attention to the improvement 
of the country. He constructed a canal from the Brahe to 
the Netze, connecting the waters of the Vistula and the 
Oder, and built up Bromberg, from a wretched little town of 
five hundred inhabitants into a flourishing city, which now 
contains sixteen thousand people. Other cities, too, grew 

M M 



530 HISTOEY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

up with surprising rapidity. He sent faithful officers to th« 
province, trade was made honest and trustworthy, and even 
the peasants began to have something to live foi*. Before 
Frederick's death, there Avas a new creation of German 
thought and labor in this region. In the same way he col- 
onized all the new districts. Along the Oder, the Warte, 
and the Netze, tracts of swamp land were drained, which 
have since become some of the richest agricultural lands in 
North Germany. In East Friesland, much was recovered 
from the Dollart, and the region of the Havel was greatly 
improved. There were still no paved roads in Prussia or in 
Germany; but much was done to facilitate traffic, especially 
by canals. Frederick still retained his ancestors' false no- 
tions of foreign trade, and hoped to encourage home manu- 
factures by heavy taxes on foreign products. He instituted 
a rigid system of duties, with extremely high taxes on cof- 
fee and tobacco ; and these were regarded as oppressive, the 
more so since they were collected almost entirely by French 
officers. 

§ 6. On the whole, however, Frederick's government was 
an admirable and efficient organization. A short time be- 
fore his death, he formed a plan for a new Prussian code of 
laws. It was drawn up by the best legal minds in the king- 
dom, was in part published before Frederick's death, and 
still remains the basis of the law of Prussia. The "paternal 
government " of Frederick accustomed the people to expect 
every thing from it, and not to exercise their own independ- 
ence and enterprise. Nor was any one, even the crown- 
prince, trained to association in the government. There 
were a number of eminent generals who grew up with Fred- 
erick in his wars, and were accustomed to a degree of inde- 
pendent command ; but most of them died before the king. 
In affairs of state, Hertzberg, the negotiator of the Peace of 
Hubertsburg, was the king's only confidant, and he was not 
a statesman of tlie first rank. Thus Prussia's greatness de- 
pended entirely on the personal attention and labors of the 
king; and if he were removed, the whole organization might 
be left lifeless. Yet the position of.Prussia in Europe was 
one not likely to be maintained without ceaseless vigilance. 

§ 7. While the example of Louis XIV. had a great and per- 



Chap. XXIV. GERMAN COURTS IN FREDERICK'S TIME. 531 

nicious influence on the princes of Europe during the six- 
teenth century and the first part of the seventeenth, that of 
Frederick the Great, toward the end of the latter century, 
was followed by many to the benefit of their subjects. He 
was the foremost representative of a school of thought Avhich 
rejected and mocked at all that the world had regarded as 
sacred ; and its influence did much to destroy various forms 
of superstition — especially among j^eople of high rank — and 
to introduce a regard for freedom and for the welfare of 
mankind. This movement, associated with no profound con- 
victions anid no moral earnestness, did not take hold strongly 
of the German mind. It found its most complete develop- 
ment in French literature, and ultimately in French public 
life in the great Revolution. But it certainly gave rise to 
much that was healthful and beneficent in the aims of rulers 
and governments. 

§ 8. The peace of nearly thirty years which followed the 
Seven-Years' War in Germany was a time of rich mental ac- 
tivity and growth. Court life itself, if its vanities were not 
abolished, still acquired a more enlightened and humane tone. 
The fierce passions of the princes no longer exclusively con- 
trolled it : there was something of regard for education, for 
art and science, and for the public Avelfare. This is particu- 
larly true of courts which were intimately connected with 
Prussia ; as that of Brunswick, where Duke Charles, Fred- 
erick II. 's brother-in-law, though personally an extravagant 
prince, founded an institution of learning which brought to- 
gether many of the best intellects of Germany (1740 to IVCO), 
or that of Anhalt-Dessau, where the famous " Philanthropi- 
num" was established. Several princes imitated Frederick's 
military administration, and that sometimes on a scale so 
small as to be ludicrous. Prince William of Lippe-Schaum- 
burg founded in his little territory a fortress and a school of 
war. But this school educated Scharnhorst, and the prince 
himself won fame in distant lands. He invited Herder to his 
little court at Btickeburg. Weimar, too, imitated Frederick's 
example, where the Duchess Amalie, daughter of Charles of 
Brunswick, and her intellectual son, Charles Augustus, made 
their little cities Weimar and Jena places of gathering for 
the greatest men of genius of the time. Among the petty 



532 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

Thuringian princes of this period, there were others of noble 
character. In 1764 the Saxon throne was ascended by 
Frederick Augustus, grandson of Augustus III., but, being 
a minor, he could not be elected king of Poland. This put 
an end to the union of the two titles, which had been the 
cause of immeasurable evil to Saxony and to Germany. 
When the young elector attained his majoiity, the govern- 
ment of Saxony was greatly improved, and a period of pros- 
perity followed. Duke Charles Eugene of Wirtemberg 
(1737-1793), during his early years, rivaled Louis XV. in ex- 
travagance and immorality, but in after- days was greatly 
changed. He founded the Charles School, at which Schiller 
was educated. Baden enjoyed a high degree of prosperity 
under Charles Frederick (1746-1811). 

§ 9. Even the spiritual lords, on the whole, threw their in- 
fluence in favor of enlightenment and progress. Such names 
as Fiirstenberg, in Miinster, Archbishop Clement Wenceslaus 
(brother of the King of Saxony), in Treves, Emmerich Joseph, 
Elector of Mayence, and Francis Lewis of Erlthal, in Wiirz- 
burg and Bamberg, rank with the best of German princes. 
The reforms within their power, indeed, amounted to little 
more than the complete exposure of invincible abuses. For 
the Church territories were in deep decay; the clergy and re- 
ligious orders included one in twenty of the population, and 
the beggars more than one in four. The prelates of Cologne, 
Treves, Mayence, and Salzburg, strange to say, agreed at 
Ems in 1786 to renounce the supremacy of Rome, and to 
found an independent German Catholic Church ; but the plan 
was broken down by the resistance of the inferior clergy and 
of the Emperor Joseph II. 

§ 10. Some of the German states were slow to take part in 
the general progress. Bavaria was constantly retarded by 
the influence of the Jesuits, and even Maximilian Joseph 
(1745-1777), though himself a well-meaning duke, was able 
to make but slow advances. The Palatinate, too, was under 
luxurious and idle rulers, mostly in the pay of France. In 
some territories the boundless extravagance of the princes 
was a terrible burden upon their subjects. In Salzburg, 
whence in 1732 the Protestants were expelled, noble build- 
ings were erected: and at the end of the century an enlight- 



Chap. XXIV. THE GOVERNMENT OF MARIA THERESA. 633 

ened government succeeded. In Cassel, Frederick's military 
policy was imitated, and here, too, magnificent public works 
were built, far beyond the resources of the land. Men who 
professed enlightenment and humanity were often shame- 
fully tyrannical. The courts of Cassel and Wirtemberg sold 
their people by regiments to England, to fight against the 
independence of the North American Colonies. In the same 
spirit game laws every where oppressed the common people, 
for the pleasure of princes and nobles. In some of the small- 
est states, proverbially said to contain only " twelve sub- 
jects and a Jew," deeds of despotic tyranny and cruelty oc- 
curred such as are hard to parallel. It was a twilight age, 
with deep shadows lingering in it. The empire was become a 
mere name. Whatever good there was in particular regions 
and courts, there was no recognized bond of union, and no 
common national life, among the German people. 

§ 11. Austria shared in the general intellectual awakening 
of Germany. Maria Theresa was a firm, strong character, 
with a clear mind and a sincere desire for the people's wel- 
fare. She found Austria in decay, and was able to introduce 
many reforms. She alleviated the condition of the peasants, 
who were still mostly serfs. The nobles had before lived 
mainly for show, but she provided institutions for their edu- 
cation. She encouraged agriculture ; and, in spite of her 
Catholic piety, while supporting schools and churches, she 
resisted the excessive influence of the clergy, diminished the 
number of useless festivals, improved the tribunals of crimi- 
nal law, conformed the organization of the army to the Prus- 
sian model, and in many ways ministered to the welfare of 
the country. Something even of German literature reached 
these territories, so long cut off" from the rest of Germany. 
The finances of Austria had fallen into a sad condition un- 
der the extravagance and neglect of her predecessors, but 
Maria Theresa's husband, Francis I., though she allowed 
him little influence upon the government in other respects, 
aided greatly in restoring these to order. A systematic ef- 
fort was made to form into one homogenous state the very 
motley mass of the Austrian territories, and in most of these 
changes the example of Prussia was closely followed. 

§ 12. It was a condition of the Peace of Hubertsburg that 



534 HISTORY OF GEEMANY. Book V. 

Frederick II. should give his electoral vote for the eldest son 
of Francis I. None of the other electors objected to the 
choice, and on March 27, 1764, they performed the ceremony 
of choosing Joseph "King of the Romans," but without 
power to interfere with the government during his father's 
life. Francis I. died August 18, 1765, and his son, Joseph 
II. (1765-1790), was then crowned emperor in the traditional 
fashion. He was also associated with his mother in the 
government of Austria; but she retained the royal power 
mainly in her own hands, assigning to her son the executive 
control of military affairs. Joseph II. was an impetuous and 
intellectual character, all aglow with the new ideas of en- 
lightenment and progress, and was perhaps more deeply im- 
pressed by the example of Frederick II. than any other prince 
of the age. He would gladly have imitated Frederick's rest- 
less activity, his faithful, exact devotion to the work in hand, 
and his minute attention to details ; but he acted so impul- 
sively that he often had to retrace his steps, or to drop the 
enterprise just begun. The path of reform being closed to 
him in Austria, he strove to open it in the empire. But his 
power as emperor was insignificant ; and his noble efibrts to 
improve the supreme chambers of justice at Vienna and 
Wetzlar were thrown away, these institutions having lost all 
their value. 

§ 13. At the same time, Joseph II. was eager to aggrandize 
Austria, and at least to obtain an equivalent for Silesia. For 
a long time Austria had been longing to acquire Bavaria, and 
there now seemed to be some reason to hope for success. The 
ancient line of electors of the house of Wittelsbach died out 
in 1777 with Maximilian Joseph (December 30). The next 
heir was the Elector Palatine, Charles Theodore, also Duke 
of Jtilich and Berg, who was not eager to obtain Bavaria, 
since, by the Peace of Westphalia, he must then forfeit the 
electorate of the Palatinate, and must also remove to Municli 
from his favorite residence at Manheim. Besides, Charles 
Theodore had no legitimate children, and could not leave to 
his natural sons either dukedom ; so that he was eager to 
exchange some of his dignities for possessions which he could 
dispose of by will. Under these circumstances Joseph II. 
made an unfounded claim to Lower Bavaria, under a pre- 



Chap. XXIV. WAR OF TPIE BAVARIAN SUCCESSION. 



535 




Joseph II. (1765-1190). 



tended grant of the Emperor Sigismund in 1426. A secret 
treaty was made by him with Charles Theodore, by which 
he was to pay that prince a large sum of money for Lower 
Bavaria ; and soon after Maximilian Joseph's death, Joseph 
11. occupied the land with troops. Frederick II., who was 
ever jealous of the growth of Austria, resolved to prevent 
this acquisition. He instigated Charles of Zweibrticken, the 
next heir to Bavaria after Charles Theodore, to protest 
against the bargain, and pledged himself to defend Charles's 
rights. Joseph II. offered to compromise, but Frederick 
would have no terms which enlarged Austria ; and thus the 
war of the Bavarian Succession broke out (l778-'79). 

§ 14. Again the Austrian and Prussian armies marched to 
the borders of Bohemia and Silesia. No decisive battles took 



536 HISTOKY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

place in this war, and no memorable deeds of heroism are re- 
corded. Frederick had a fine army, but held it back, and re- 
fused to take Austria by surprise, even when the opportunity 
seemed most tempting. The Avar is ever since known in the 
Prussian army as " The Potato War," the only achievement 
in it being Frederick's stay of some months in Bohemia, 
living on the country. Neither he nor Maria Theresa wished 
to renew their useless conflicts ; and she opened negotiations 
with him in 1778, keeping them secret from her son. They 
failed, but on May 13, 1779, peace was concluded at Teschen, 
through the mediation of Russia and France ; the Empress 
Catharine declaring that, unless the Austrian claims were 
abandoned, she would support Frederick II. with 50,000 men. 
Austria gave up all claim to the Bavarian inheritance ; but 
received the small district between the Danube, the Inn, 
and the Salzach, known as the " Innviertel," containing about 
eight hundred square miles and a population of sixty thou- 
sand. Mecklenburg and Saxony received compensation in 
money and lands for their claims on Bavaria; and Austria 
agreed not to oppose the future union of Anspach and Bai- 
reuth with Prussia. But the inheritance of Bavaria, upon the 
death of Charles Theodore without legitimate sons, was se- 
cured to the Zweibriicken-Birkenfeld branch of the house of 
Wittelsbach, which succeeded to the dukedom in 1799, in 
the person of Maximilian IV. Joseph, ancestor of the present 
king. By inviting the interference of Russia in this case, 
Frederick gave that power a new opportunity to interfere 
in German aftairs. From that time Joseph II. courted the 
favor of the Empress Catharine II. 

§ 15. By the death of Maria Theresa, November 29, 1780, 
her son Joseph II. became sole monarch of Austria. He now 
resumed his plans for the aggrandizement of his country. 
He reduced the spiritual lordships of Salzburg and Passau, 
secured for his brother the Archbishopric of Cologne and 
Mtinster, and again formed with Charles Theodore a scheme 
for annexing Bavaria to Austria. He obtained that prince's 
consent to exchange Bavaria for the Austrian Netherlands, 
to be ceded to him as a kingdom of Burgundy. Frederick 
again induced Charles of Zweibriicken to protest, and prom- 
ised to support him to the utmost. Joseph II. then aban- 



Chap. XXIV. JOSEPH 11. AS A REFORMER. 537 

doned his plan, without war. Frederick had for a long time 
observed with anxiety the growing friendship between Aus- 
tria and Russia ; and his own alliance with Russia was dis- 
solved. It was therefore more necessary than ever for him 
to find support and alliance in Germany, In order to meet 
any aggressions of Austria the more eflfectually, he founded 
the " Confederation of the German Princes," a league of the 
smaller German states under Prussia, to guarantee the secu- 
rity of the empire. It was joined by Hanover, Saxony, 
Brunswick, Baden, Mecklenburg, Anhalt, Hesse, the Elec- 
torate of Mayence, Zweibriicken, Anhalt, and others. In 
bringing about this league, Frederick's minister Hertzberg 
showed much diplomatic skill. 

§ 16. Joseph II. was a man of large mind and noble aims. 
Like Frederick, he was unwearying in labor, accessible to 
every one^and eager to assume his share of work or responsi- 
bility. The books and the people's memory are full of anec- 
dotes of him, though he was far from popular during his life. 
But he lacked the strong practical sense and calculating 
foresight of the veteran Prussian king. In his zeal for re- 
forms he hastened to heap one upon another in confusion. 
Torture was abolished, and for a time even the death penalty. 
Rigid equality before the law was introduced, and slavery 
done away. His reforms in the Church were* still more 
sweeping. He closed more than half of the monasteries, and 
devoted their estates to public instruction ; he introduced 
German hymns of praise and the German Bible. By his 
Edict of Toleration, June 22, 1V81, he secured to all Protest- 
ants throughout the Austrian states their civil rights and 
freedom of worship, " in houses of prayer without bells or 
towers." Pope Pius VII. in person visited the court of Vi- 
enna in March, 1V82, and Joseph II. received him with marked 
reverence and courtesy, but yielded nothing to him in his 
policy. 

§ 17. Joseph II. carried into the rest of the Austrian terri- 
tories the same impetuous sj^irit of reform on which he acted 
in his German dominions. He zealously followed up Maria 
Theresa's policy of consolidating Austria into one state; and 
it was this course which made him enemies. He offend- 
ed the powerful nobility of Hungary by abolishing serfdom 



538 HISTOKY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

(Xovember 1, 1'/Sl), and the whole j^eople by the measures he 
took to promote the use of the German hmguage. In the 
Netherlands, he alienated from him the powerful clergy by 
his innovations ; and they stirred up against him the people, 
already aggrieved by the loss of some of their ancient liber- 
ties. A revolution broke out among them in 1788, and was 
threatening to extend to Hungary and Bohemia, when the 
emperor suddenly died, still in the full vigor of manhood, at 
the age of forty-nine, February 20, 1790. He had assisted 
(Catharine 11. of Russia in a war against the Turks, in the au- 
tumn of 1788, hoping for some conquests of his own; but 
failed in his campaign, and contracted a fever in the malari- 
ous country on the Lower Danube which broke down his 
strength. The failure of nearly all his plans depressed his 
spirits and prevented his recovery. Not long before his 
death, he made a public declaration, upon receiving the sacra- 
ment in the chapel of his palace, that his designs had been 
good, and that, if they had failed, he looked for divine pity 
and forgiveness. After his death, the progress of reform was 
checked in Austria ; but he had awakened new and strong 
forces there, and a complete return to the ancient system was 
impossible, 

§ 18. Europe was now in agitation and terror before the 
approach of the French Revolution, which made even the 
most liberal princes jealous of innovation and of any popu- 
lar movement. Leopold H, (1790-1792), who succeeded his 
brother Joseph H., both in Austria and as emperor, was a 
self-indulgent but prudent ruler. As Grand-Duke of Tuscany 
he had practiced the same principles as Joseph, but with ex- 
treme caution. He suppressed the revolution in the Neth- 
erlands by violence, and conciliated Hungary. He showed 
a vein of cunning in his conduct of foreign affairs, especially 
toward Prussia. In Austria he created a watchful body of 
secret police, reintroduced the censorship of the press, and 
met every revolutionary impulse with prudence and energy. 

§ 19. During his long reign, Frederick II. enjoyed the un- 
changing love of his people and the respect of Europe. But 
he was fully aware of the changes which time wrought 
around him. He saw the simple, unselfish spirit in which 
the burdens of the Seven- Years' War had been borne die 



(^HAP. XXIV. LAST YEARS OF FREDERICK II. 



539 




Leopold II. (1T90-1792). 



away. He saw the unfeigned piety of the Prussian people 
disappearing under the influence of unbelievers and mockers 
in the higher classes, and he sincerely wished that it might 
be restored. As he advanced in life, his habits grew more 
lonely ; all his friends died before him, and his isolation of 
mind increased. He did not appreciate the grand intellect- 
ual movement of the German people, nor even the literary 
revival which had been going on among his own subjects 
from the times of Lessing and Kant. His personal feelings 
were embittered by the loss of the early friends whom he 
never replaced ; of his mother, just after the battle of Colin ; 
of his sister Wilhelmiua, Margravine of Baireuth, on the very 
day of the disaster of Hochkirch ; and of the Marquis D'Ar- 
gens. He grew to be almost a misanthrope, yet never re- 



540 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

laxed his exertions in the service of his kingdom and people, 
to the very day before his deatli. He died August 17, 1786. 
His figure is one of the most prominent among the favorite 
heroes of the German people, who know him as "Old Fritz," 
in his cocked hat, plain blue army coat, and high boots reach- 
ing the thighs ; or on bis horse riding to war, staff in hand ; 
liis form thin, not tall, and bent with age and suffering, his 
face deeply furrowed and weather-worn, his eye large, clear, 
and commanding. In the stories, anecdotes, and traditions 
of the people, his name is still next to Luther's. It seemed 
at his death as if Prussia's greatness was gone. 

§ 20. For liis nephew and successor was far from filling his 
place. Frederick William II. was a spirited, honorable, kind- 
hearted, sensitive man, of an active mind ; but his character 
was clouded by irresolution, disgraceful sensuality, and a 
taste for the marvelous. Frederick II. had felt little respect 
for the abilities of his nephew, and had taken no pains to 
initiate him with the work of government. No one but 
Hertzberg, the minister, remained, who could carry out the 
policy of the great king. Prussia still commanded the re- 
spect of the great powers, as was seen at the beginning of 
the new king's reign. The republican party in Holland Avas 
in a dispute with the hereditary stadtholdcr, William of Or- 
ange, and carried it so far that his wife, Frederick William's 
sister, while on a journey from Guelders to the Hague, was 
seized by the citizen soldiers of a little Dutch town, detained 
several hours as a prisoner, and then sent back. This pro- 
duced an outbreak, and the stadtholder called on his broth- 
er-in-law for help. Frederick William, wishing to avenge 
his sister, hastened to respond, Duke Charles William Fer- 
dinand of Brunswick, with 20,000 Prussians, in 1787 invaded 
Holland, and with ease reduced to submission its boastful 
citizen militia, and restored the princely family to their for- 
mer position. Frederick William II. was always generous; 
but it was against the interests of Prussia that he now de- 
clined even to accept an indemnity for the expenses of the 
war ; nor did he take advantage of the opportunities af- 
forded to secure other benefits for his country, such as the 
free navigation of the Rhine, which was now obstructed with 
tolls by the Dutch. This first easy campaign confirmed the 



05 



Chap. XXIV. POLICY OF HEKTZBERG. 541 

faith of the army in its own invincibility, but entirely ex- 
hausted the treasure left by Frederick II. 

§ 21. The kingdom of Poland, though overshadowed by the 
growing power of Russia, and humiliated by the first parti- 
tion, still existed for a time. In IVSV Catharine II. again 
took up her plans of conquest, and began a war against the 
Turks, in alliance with Joseph II. of Austria, and with her 
creature, Stanislaus Poniatowski, King of Poland. This al- 
liance was, first, for the conquest of Turkey, but it was im- 
possible to conceal the further purpose of attacking Prussia. 
The Russians, under Potemkin, made rapid progress in Mol- 
davia and Wallachia. Frederick William II. and Hertzberg 
still his minister, pursued the policy of Frederick II., in op 
posing the destruction of the European balance of power by 
the ascendency of Russia and Austria, and the growth of an 
immense Sclavonic empire in the East. Prussia therefore 
formed an alliance, not only with England, Holland, and 
Sweden, whose interests were identical with its own, but also 
with Turkey itself, and with Poland, whose government was 
not in accord with the king. Yet Hertzberg's policy was 
ambiguous. He was desirous of securing for Prussia at least 
Dantzic and Thorn, if not Posen and Kalisch; while Austria, 
if possible, should be made to give back Galicia to Poland, 
compensating itself out of Turkey. While Joseph II. lived, 
and the revolts in his territories continued, the prospects for 
Hertzberg's plans were favorable. Prussia supported the 
inhabitants of Liittich, on the frontier of Belgium, against 
their bishop, and Prussian ofticers organized the Belgian 
troops against Austria. But when Leopold II. came to the 
throne in 1790, he dexterously strove to come to an under- 
standing with Prussia. The Congress of Reichenbach, in 
Silesia, was the result ; at which England and Holland, hith- 
erto allies of Prussia, protested against any territorial ag- 
grandizement of that country, and declared in favor of the 
^^ status quo'''' — the maintenance of the situation as it was. 
This had been Aiistria's desire; but it now pretended to make 
a concession to Prussia, in ens-agins: to seek no aoorrandize- 
ment in Turkey. Frederick William II. contented himself 
with this mere shadow of gain, since he was now distrustful 
of Hertzberg and of his revolutionary projects, and weary 



542 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

of the war. Thus Leopold II. obtained by the convention 
of Reichenbach (July 27, 1790) peace at home and abroad. 
But Prussia was evidently and for the first time defeated in 
its plans, and began to lose its high position in Europe. 

§ 22. In consequence of the convention of Reichenbach, 
Hertzberg retired, and Prussia became more and more sub- 
ject to Austrian influence. The agreement of Austria to re- 
nounce all hope of acquiring territory from Turkey was not 
observed ; but King Frederick William was now wholly ab- 
sorbed in the war against the French Revolution, and once 
more yielded, and the old city of Orsowa was ceded by the 
Porte to Austria as the price of the Peace of Sistowa (August 
4, 1791). Russia, too, paid no regard to the threats of Prus- 
sia, now abandoned by the naval powers, England and Hol- 
land, but went on with the war against Turkey. The powers 
which had put their trust in Prussia — Turkey, Poland, and 
Sweden — found themselves without help, and regarded Prus- 
sia as faithless. Poland disregarded the friendship of Prussia 
and formed a new constitution (May, 1791), with an heredi- 
tary monarch and a fundamental law, founded on the French 
princijjles of 1789. Frederick William acquiesced in all these 
changes ; but the Russian party, dissatisfied with the new 
constitution, formed a confederation, under Potocki, to over- 
throw it, and Catharine II., having made peace with Turkey, 
sent one hundred thousand troops into Poland. Prussia had 
promised Poland aid, but now refused it, and left Kosciusko 
and the Poles to be crushed. The king, Poniatowski, under 
Catharine's threats, joined the confederation, which had just 
met to complete its triumph, when it was informed that Rus- 
sia and Prussia had resolved to make a new partition of their 
country. But it required long negotiation to agree on the 
terras of division, and especially to induce Austria and En- 
gland to acquiesce in it. By fair words and concessions 
of trading privileges, and especially by the promise to join 
the alliance against France, the Northern powers succeeded 
in this, and on April 9, 1793, the new partition was made 
public. 

§ 23. Russia obtained by this act 88,000 square miles of 
territory, with a population of 3,055,500. Prussia received 
22,000 square miles, with 1,136,300 inhabitants, including Po- 



Chap. XXIV. FINAL PARTITION OF POLAND. 543 

sen and Gnesen, Kalisch, Sieradz, Plock, part of Rawa, the for- 
tress of Czenstochau, and the cities of Dantzic and Thorn, 
the whole forming the new jDrovince of " South Prussia." 
Poland was left with one third of its original extent, and this 
was again " guaranteed " by Russia and Prussia, Soon after 
this, the Poles once more revolted under Kosciusko; but 
Prussia invaded the country, beating down all opposition. 
When the insurrection was nearly suppressed — Warsaw alone 
remaining in the hands of the Poles — the Russian general 
Suwaroft' came with his army, captured Praga, and stormed 
Warsaw. On January 3, 1795, a declaration of the three 
powers appeared, setting forth that the only way of keeping 
the peace in Poland was to divide it among them. On Octo- 
ber 24 the final treaty of partition was signed, by which the 
king, Poniatowski, was pensioned ofi', and the remnant of 
Poland distributed. Prussia now received Warsaw, the capi- 
tal city, parts of Massovia and Podlachia, and some smaller 
districts forming a strip on its eastern frontier, out of which 
the provinces of "New East Prussia" and "New Silesia" 
Avere made: the whole composing 21,000 square miles, with 
a million of inhabitants. Austria, which had not drawn a 
sword in the war, was permitted to take West Galicia, neai'- 
ly as large and quite as populous as the Prussian share, while 
Russia took all the rest, including all Polish Lithuania and 
other territories — 43,000 square miles and 1,200,000 people. 

§ 24. Thus, without any remarkable feat of arms or of 
statesmanship, Prussia easily acquired a vast addition to its 
territory and power. But the gain by the last two partitions 
was of a very different nature from that made by Frederick 
II. in the first one. It was not German soil, nor were the 
people easily to be assimilated with a nation of Germans. 
The country contained wild plains of vast extent, peopled 
by fanatical Roman Catholics of Sclavonic descent, hostile to 
the Germans, and incapable of being fairly incor^^orated Avith 
Prussia in less than a century of peace. This unsafe acquisi- 
tion was speedily lost again when Prussia was dismembered 
in 1806. 

§ 25. Frederick William II. was not successful in his in- 
terior administration. The oppressive customs duties were 
abandoned, education was encoura2;ed, and some favor was 



544 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

shown to the new and vigorous literary activity in Germany. 
But the internal organization of the state, on the whole, de- 
clined. The treasure of Frederick the Great was early ex- 
hausted, and public debts were contracted. The court was 
tainted with immorality, which was spread abroad by its in- 
fluence. Vanity, self-indulgence, and vainglorious boasting 
prevailed, and the higher uses of life seemed to be forgotten. 
Meanwhile the king came under the influence of men who 
knew how to inspire him with a sickly religious fanaticism, 
without any moral earnestness. Vice was fostered ; but an 
edict of Wollner, the king's canting minister, provided that 
the clergy should undergo a preliminary examination as to 
their faith, and in fact endeavored to force them — under pen- 
alty of deposition or worse — to preach the old and rigid doc- 
trine favored by the court, whether they believed it or not 
(July 9, 1788). Against this worthless law the fashionable 
mocking skepticism, whose home was at Berlin, was as bitter 
as the earnest spirit of free inquiry which had characterized 
the intelligence of Prussia from the time of Lessing and Kant. 
Professor Bahrdt, of Halle, was condemned to two years' con- 
finement in the fortress of Magdebui'g for writing against the 
edict. The true Protestant spirit, which could not endure 
any form of religion on compulsion, revolted. The law was 
set aside as pernicious by the pious Frederick William III. 
In the ten years of the reign of Frederick William II. the 
strong and admirable foundations laid by Frederick the Great 
were entirely undermined, and when he died, November 16, 
179*7, he left to his son, Frederick William III., a hard task 
at home, even had there been no storms threatening from 
abroad. 

§ 26. Amid the general awakening of intelligence in Ger- 
many tliere were still some painful exceptions. Austria, 
after the hasty efibrts of Joseph II. for reform, had returned 
to the old paths, and was more isolated from Germany, both 
politically and intellectually, than ever. Prussia, too, seem- 
ed to be in a decline. In short, Germany seemed to be little 
more ready to meet the severe trials now approaching than 
it had been when Louis XIV.'s attacks began. Yet a great 
change had taken place in the people. There was more than 
ever before that consciousness of community among them 



Chap. XXIV. POETS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. 545 

which justifies calling them a nation. This was largely the 
result of the splendid deeds of their heroes, Prince Eugene, 
the Great Elector, and, above all, Frederick the Great ; but it 
was also much promoted by the works of intellectual heroes, 
who created among the people a new sense of their unity, 
and of their position among the nations of the world. It was 
to a very great extent the achievements of Prussia, and the 
fact that a great Protestant power had grown up in Ger- 
many, that gave the great impulse to this patriotic awaken- 
ing of national feeling; but it was by no means confined to 
the Prussian people, but extended throughout the south and 
west of Germany, and even to Switzerland. 

§ 2V. It was in Switzerland that a poet and scholar arose 
in the first half of the eighteenth century who formed a new 
bond of union between his country and Germany. Ilaller 
(born 1708, died 1111), "the poet of the Alps," was invited 
to Gottingen,and lived long to honor the university founded 
there by the royal Hanoverian house of England in 1737. 
Hagedorn of Hamburg (born 1708, died 1754) was a contem- 
porary of Haller, and was the first graceful versifier of the 
modern German tongue. In Leipsic, at the same time, 
Gottsched (1700-1766) laid down poetical principles and 
rules, which were narrow and rigid enough; yet he extended 
the knowledge of the best French poets, and elevated the 
taste of the people. Just at the time when Frederick II. as- 
cended the throne, and went to war for Silesia, the Swiss 
poets and critics, Breitinger and Bodmer, entered upon a 
lively controversy with Gottsched, which contributed to a 
better understanding of poetry. Gellert (1715-1769), the au- 
thor of so many favorite hymns, and of popular fables and 
tales in verse, also wrote in Leipsic. Here, too, was formed a 
circle of young friends, who were afterward mostly recruited at 
Duke Charles's institute in Brunswick — Gartner, Ebert, Zacha- 
riii, and others : the circle amid which afterward arose Klop- 
stock (1724-1803), the first of the great German poets. He 
restored to the German language an elevation and dignity 
of movement which it had not attained since Luther. He 
was full of the spirit of the great Reformation in all its 
freshness, and breathed in every thing the truest patriotism. 

§ 28. A number of younger poets echoed the patriotic 



546 HISTORY OF GERMA^^Y. Ejuic V. 

strains of Klopstock; among them,Voss, Holty, Burger, and 
the brothers Stolbei'g. Meanwhile Gottholcl Ephraim Less- 
ing (1*729-1781), who resided successively at Leipsic, Berlin, 
Hamburg, and Wolfenbiittel, gave boldness and strength to 
German- prose, and broke the last fetters of French slavery 
in poetry. He created the German drama, celebrated Prus- 
sia's greatness in " Minna von Barhelm," and proclaimed 
toleration and perfect freedom of thought in " Nathan the 
Wise." Closely connected with him are the Prussian poets — 
Kleist (1715-1759), the minstrel of spring, who was killed at 
the battle of Kunersdorf, and Gleim, a canon of Halber- 
stadt, author of the " Songs of the Prussian Grenadier." 
Prussia also had great scholars : Winkelmann, who disclosed 
to modern times the glories of ancient art, and Kant, of 
Konigsberg, the most original thinker of his time, and the 
father of the gi'eat modern philosophical systems. 

§ 29. Herder (1744-1803) was also an East Prussian, and 
grew up under the influence of the new zeal for inquiry. He 
was great as a theologian, philosopher, and thinker, as the ex- 
ponent to Germany of the poetry of all ages and nations, and 
as the first representative of that comprehensive and cath- 
olic impartiality w^hich has ever since distinguished German 
scholarship. But the full development of German poetry 
was for the South Germans, of the ancient Frankish and 
Suabian stock. At a still earlier period,Wieland (1733-1813), 
the author of "Oberon," had animated the slow and heavy 
German mind with grace and wit, while adhering to French 
models. But the summit of literary art was attained by 
John Wolfgang Goethe (born at Frankfort-ou-the-Main, Au- 
gust 28, 1 749, died at Weimar, March 22,1832). His wonder- 
ful powers placed him at once at the head of the poetic 
youth of the country ; and under his guidance they all 
plunged into what has been called the " storm and crush 
period" of German literature (1770-1785), which was to the 
world of thought much what the French Revolution afterward 
proved to the world of politics. But Goethe's growth con- 
tinued long after this, in the maturer and calmer regions of 
true art, and while he lived to be recognized in all nations as 
the first poet of his age, his reputation and influence have only 
.increased in the forty years since his death. His younger 



Chap. XXIV. GOLDEN AGE OF GERMAN LITERATURE. 547 

friend, Schiller (born at Marbach, in Suabia, November 11, 
1759, died at Weimar, May 9, 1805), reached still more in- 
wardly the depths of the popular heart. Full of earnest de- 
votion to truth and beauty, his life was a constant growth, 
and his works wielded an immeasurable power in stirring 
the intellect and taste of the nation. Goethe and Schiller 
lived in intimate friendship at Weimar, where also Herder, 
Wieland, and other men of genius gathered at the court of 
the Grand-Duke Charles Augustus, then a chief capital of the 
German intellect. A second centre of power was Jena, 
where the great philosophers Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel, 
one after another, studied and taught (from 1795 to 1806). 

§ 30. Thus German literature reached its highest point of 
productiveness and power at the end of the eighteenth cent- 
ury. It was more to the Germans than a national literature 
could be to any other nation. For it was not merely a pride, 
a delight, and an education for each citizen: it was for the 
time the nation itself, the only symbol of its union and cen- 
tre of its patriotic feelings. It lifted the minds of men above 
the boundaries of the petty states, and united all the scat- 
tered members of the race in a national consciousness. Colo- 
nists on the Baltic, emigrants to North America, and every 
subject of each severed German principality in Europe shared 
in it alike. This feeling was a gradual growth, but it proved 
of the highest value wben the times came in which a national 
reunion of Germany seemed to many forever imjjossible. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

FROM THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TO THE PEACE OF LUNE- 
VILLE, 1792-1801. 

§ 1 . Ideas of the Eevolution. § 2. Causes which Hastened it in France. 
§ 3. Overthrow of the Monarchy. § 4. Reign of Terror ; Supremacy of 
the Army. § 5. Effect of the Revohition upon Germany. § 6. Especially 
near the Rhine. § 7. Causes of War with France. Accession of Francis 
II. , Emperor of Germany. § 8. Prussian and Austrian Attack on France. 
§ 9. Its Failure. § 10. The Germans Driven Back ; the French at Lut- 
tich and Aix. § 11. And at Mayence. § 12. Death of Louis XVI. ; the 
First Coalition ; French Successes. § 13. Dissension among the Allies. 
§ 14. Defection of Prussia. § 15. Napoleon in Italy. § 16. Victories 
over the Austrians. § 17. Archduke Charles Successful in Germany. 
§ 18. Napoleon's Advance to Klogenfurth. § 19. Peace of Campo Formio. 
§ 20. The Empire in Fragments. § 21. Congress of Rastatt. § 22. The 
Second Coalition, 1799. § 23. Murder of French Embassadors. § 24. Na- 
poleon First Consul. § 25. Battles of Genoa and Hohenlinden. § 26. 
Peace of Luneville. § 27. The Imperial Deputation Redistricts Germany : 
Distribution of "Indemnities." 

§ 1. The intellectual agitation in Germany was contempo- 
raneous with violent political agitations in other nations. 
The American Colonies, after a long war (1775-1783), secured 
their independence of Great Britain ; and Frederick the Great 
was the first monarch in Europe to recognize them as a na- 
tion, expecting great advantages from their trade with East 
Friesland. These events and the constitution of the new 
popular government in America gave a strong impulse in 
Europe to the doctrine of the political equality of all men 
and of the right of self-government. In France, indeed, the 
minds of men were ripe for such doctrines, and they gained 
ground rapidly. Young French enthusiasts, like Lafayette, 
volunteered in the War of Independence, and were soon ac- 
knowledged as leaders and apostles of enlightenment and 
freedom ; until public opinion in France compelled the king 
to make open war in behalf of the young republic. 

§ 2. The success of the American Revolution further stim- 
ulated the growth of the new doctrines in Eurojje, and above 



Chap. XXV. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 549 

all in France. The follies and crimes of Louis XIV. and 
Louis XV. still burdened the nation, and their unfortunate 
descendant, Louis XVL, inherited the blame for all. An in- 
tolerable public debt, and oppressive taxes which were levied 
upon the citizens and peasants, but not upon the rich no- 
bles and clergy, exasperated the people. Religious faith had 
nearly perished ; and wild immorality, under the sanction of 
the court and the nobles, spread through the community. 
Want and oppression destroyed the loyalty of the people. 
All these causes together helped to prepare the great Revo- 
lution, in which, step by stejj, the power of the ancient mon- 
archy was destroyed. 

§ 3. After a series of conflicts between parties, and popular 
outbreaks, the Girondists, or Republicans, gained the control 
of the National Legislative Assembly, in which the powers 
of the government were now vested (October 1, 1791). This 
party led France into a war with Germany, and a camp of 
volunteers was formed in Paris. These soldiers, with the 
Paris mob, made a systematic attack on the Tuileries, Au- 
gust 10, 1792 ; the king was made prisoner, and the monarchy 
declared forfeited, and a new National Assembly was called 
to reconstitute the government. But the Girondists them- 
selves soon fell before the passions of a party beside which 
they seem moderate. Danton, in the Jacobin club, declared 
that terror alone could save France from foes without and 
within, invaders and traitors ; and the frightful " September 
massacres" of unarmed prisoners soon followed. The new 
Convention, on September 21, 1792, declared France a repub- 
lic, and assumed the government in the name of the people. 

§ 4. "The Mountain," the wild followers of Danton and 
Robespierre, now ruled the Convention. They sent to the 
guillotine the king, then the moderate Republicans, or Giron- 
dists ; and then they quarreled among themselves — Danton 
himself was beheaded, and Robespierre with his gang ruled 
France as a tyrant. All Europe was in arms against the 
new republic; but this only convinced its leaders the more 
that the terror must be maintained. At last, in July, 1794, 
Robespierre was overthrown, and a more moderate party 
succeeded. The Convention lasted a year longer; but France 
was then weary of bloodshed, and sought to restore internal 



550 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

quiet by the government of a "Directory" (1795). The 
whole power of the country soon came into the hands of the 
army and its rising generals. The effort for lawful freedom 
and constitutional order was forgotten, the people longed for 
repose, and the natural result was a military despotism. 

§ 5. A profound impression was made by these events on 
all Europe, and especially on Germany, the next neighbor of 
France. The first demands for constitutional freedom, and 
the rule of justice instead of an arbitrary king, uttered in 
eloquent language by zealous and able men, stirred the sym- 
pathies of all intelligent Germans. Freedom and equality 
became a watchword even east of the Rhine. The decline 
of this enthusiasm and sympathy was but gradual, and many 
deeds of violence were pardoned to the spirit of liberty. But 
the horrors of the September massacres, the murder of the 
mild and not wicked king, and the streams of innocent blood 
shed in wantonness, turned most Germans in hori-or from the 
scene, and very many of them even abandoned all faith in 
the right or power of a people to govern themselves. 

§ 6. Yet Germany was not of one mind. In great states, 
like Prussia and Austria, with a proud history of their own, 
and accustomed to thought and action on a large scale, the 
Revolution had but a slight influence. But the nearer the 
Rhine, and the smaller the state, the more excited were the 
people. The decay of the empire now showed itself a ter- 
rible misfortune, especially in the territories of the prelates, 
as in Treves, Cologne, and Mayence. Complaints were made 
of oppressive taxation, of the defective administration of jus- 
tice, of abuses under the game laws, and of many things. 
There were people liere who were not repelled by the ex- 
tremest doctrines and practices of the Jacobins from claiming 
to be of the new French school in which all men are broth- 
ers. When the Austrian and Prussian armies were defeated 
by the French, no one welcomed the resqlt more than many 
Germans, who forgot their love of country in their zeal for 
the new Red-Republican faith. Ancient cities of the empire, 
like Mayence, Cologne, and Coblentz, rushed into the arms 
of foreigners, to rejoice with them over the humiliation of 
their own country. 

§ 7. The attacks of the Jacobins on the dignity and the 



Chap. XXV. FRANCE AT WAR WITH AUSTRIA. 551 

person of the king alarmed the German rulers, and even the 
Austrian and Prussian raonarchs forgot their rivalries in their 
common anxiety to save royalty itself. The empire had a 
complaint against France, for the rights of German princes 
in France had been attacked by the National Assembly. The 
French " emigrants," who had tied from France at the out- 
break of the llevolution, were kindly received by the Ger- 
man riders, and were often aided by them in their prepara- 
tions to invade their own country. The Emperor Leopold 
and King P^'rederick William II. met in the summer of 1791 
at Pillnitz, near Dresden, as guests of the Elector of Saxony, 
to consider what measures should be taken. The Count of 
Artois, a brother of Louis XVI., also joined them, to ask for 
their aid against the Assembly. But Leopold was extremely 
cautious, and would not bind himself by any promise, though 
Frederick William II. was eager for action. Leopold might 
still have avoided war for a long time, but that the Repub- 
licans in France hastened it. The National Assembly decreed 
that the corps of emigrants must disperse before March 1, 
1792, or France would declare war. On the day named, 
the Emperor Leopold died. His son succeeded him as Fran- 
cis I. of Austria (1792-1835), and on July 5 was elected em- 
peror as Francis 11. (1792-1800). Francis was an honest, 
kindly, and sincere prince, but was without eminent abilities. 
As a private gentleman, he would have been esteemed and 
admired, but it was his misfortune to inherit duties above his 
capacity. In his communication to the French diplomatists, 
announcing his father's death, he promised to maintain his 
father's policy; but even here his language showed that he 
was ready to go much farther. Before the month of March 
ended Austria offered as an ultimatum to France the demand 
that the ancient French monarchy should be restored in all 
its strength, with the nobility and clergy in their ancient 
possessions and rights. On April 20, King Louis XVI. him- 
self presented to the National Assembly the complaints of 
France against Austria, and war was declared. The whole 
French nation entered with enthusiasm into the war against 
"the hordes of slaves" and "the conspirator kings," who 
wished, as they believed, to destroy their liberties. 

§ 8. France seemed torn with dissension ; its army and its 



552 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book V. 




Francis II. (1T92-1S06). 



finances were in utter disorder, and the nation was in no 
condition to resist a strong attack. But Germany was also 
far from ready. The empire was powerless ; single states, 
like Bavaria and the Palatinate, now united, asking the ene- 
my to regard them as neutral, while the two great powers 
wasted precious time, and soon ruined their cause by dis- 
agreement. It was not until the end of July, 1792, that the 
Prussians crossed the frontier from Luxemburg, while the 
Austrians were to join them, advancing from the Netherlands 
and from the Upper Rhine. The armies were smaller than 
had been agreed upon. The division of the supreme com- 
mand in the principal army was ruinous. Frederick William 
II. was eager to advance. His general-in-chief, Duke Charles 



Chap. XXV. FAILURE OF THE PRUSSIAN INVASION. 553 

of Brunswick — reputed to be the ablest soldier of his time — 
wished to act slowly and cautiously. All the measures tak- 
en w^ere spoiled by cross-purposes. A proclamation to the 
French, issued from Coblentz by Brunswick, assumed to speak 
to them in the name of their own legitimate government, 
threatened to destroy every city which should resist, and to 
chastise Paris in a way to be remembered forever, if a hair 
of the king's head were harmed. These empty threats had 
no effect but to serve as texts by which the French patriotic 
orators stirred up the people to fury in their resistance. The 
tone of the proclamation, too, convinced multitudes of the 
French that their foreign foes were in communication with 
the royal family, and acted in concert with the king ; and 
this conviction hastened the fall of the monarchy. 

§ 9. The Prussians took Longwy (August 23) and Verdun 
(September 2), and then marched into Champagne. In front 
of this province was the forest of Argonnes, the passes of 
which were narrow and easily defended. Dumouriez con- 
ceived a brilliant plan for defending these, as "the Thermop- 
ylae of France." The project was poorly carried out, but 
the Prussians needlessly gave Dumouriez and Kellermann, 
the two French generals, time to unite their forces. On Sep- 
tember 20, 1792, Brunswick suddenly attacked Kellermann 
at Valmy, and threw his troops into a panic, but neglected 
to take advantage of his success, contented himself with a 
useless cannonade, and drew off his forces in the evening. 
This trifling repulse was represented throughout France as 
a great victory, and had a vast effect in encouraging the 
French soldiers and people. 

§ 10. Dumouriez now skillfully held the Prussians aloof for 
eight days, until he was strongly reinforced and his position 
made impregnable. The Prussians had been assured by the 
emigrants that the invasion would be a mere promenade. 
But they found themselves without supplies, the resistance 
increasing daily, the roads growing worse under the incessant 
rains, and diseases, caused by exposure, imperfect food, and 
chalky water, rapidly weakening them. They opened nego- 
tiations, demanding the restoration of the king, but at the same 
time, September 30, 1792, began their retreat to the Rhine, 
much reduced in numbers. The allies, too, were already dis- 



554 IlIttTOKY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

trustful of one another. Dumouriez now attacked the Aus- 
trians in Belgium. The battle of Jemappes, November 6, 
1792, showed the energy of Republican enthusiasm in the 
French troops. The Austrians were defeated, and the Nether- 
lands conquered. On November 14, Dumouriez entered 
Brussels in triumph. Before the year ended the French oc- 
cupied the German cities of Ltittich and Aix ; and at Ltittich 
liis soldiers were welcomed by a people infatuated like them- 
selves with "the principles of the Revolution." 

§ 11. Dui-ing the retreat of the German armies, the French 
under Custine, who had seized Spires and Worms, suddenly 
attacked Mayence, October 5. Poorly fortified and poorly 
governed, and now abandoned by the cowardly elector and 
his oflicers, it gladly surrendered to the French, who entered 
proclaiming liberty (October 11, 1*792). The Paris clubs 
were imitated here on a small scale, and in the spring of 
1793 George Forster and Adam Lux of Mayence went to 
Paris to propose the annexation of the Rhine districts to the 
French Republic. Forster was bitterly undeceived, and died 
of a broken heart. Lux defended Charlotte Corday, whose 
beauty and heroism had excited a memorable devotion in his 
heart, and his aspiration to die for her was satisfied under 
the guillotine. Frankfort, also, was occupied October 22, 
1792, and forced to listen to proclamations of liberty and 
equality, and to pay burdensome contributions ; but the Prus- 
sians and Hessians, with the help of the brave citizens, retook 
the city by storm, December 2, and captured the whole 
French garrison of 1500 men. 

§ 12. Louis XVL was put to death January 21, 1793. 
England immediately dismissed the French minister, and on 
February 1 France declared war against England and Hol- 
land. On March 25, England and Russia formed an alliance 
against France, which was joined in April by Sardinia and 
Hesse-Cassel, in May by Spain, and during the year by Prus- 
sia, Austria, Portugal, Tuscany, Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt. 
This was the famous First Coalition, in which Denmark, 
Sweden, and Switzerland, alone of the powers of Northern 
and Western Europe, remained neutral. France endeavored 
to secure the alliance of the United States, but failed. Catha- 
rine n. of Russia, however, held aloof from actual war, while 



Chap. XXV. VICTORIES OF THE FRENCH. 555 

encouraging the other jiowers, in the hope of carrying on her 
projects against Turkey and Poland without interference. 
Against the vast preparations of Europe, France, weakened 
by party strife and by many revolts at home, had nothing to 
rely on but undisciplined armies and untried Jacobin generals. 
It was again due to the divisions and irresolution, the mutual 
envy and jealousy of the allies, that the republic maintained 
itself The campaign of the coalition opened promisingly. 
The Austrians, by a victory at Neerwinden, March 18, recon- 
quered Belgium, and were enabled to invade France. The 
Prussians recovered Mayence, July 23, and marched triumph- 
antly into Alsace and the Palatinate. But minister Thugut in 
Austria, and a peace party under Haugwitz in Prussia, con- 
stantly increased the want of harmony between the two 
countries. King Frederick William II. became absorbed in 
the prospect of the second j^artition of Poland, and left the 
army at the end of the year. On the other hand, the fierce 
enthusiasm of the Convention and the genius of Carnot, the 
French minister of war, wholly changed the conduct of the 
war in France. The levy of the whole people was proclaimed 
by the Convention, August 16, and the revolutionary enthu- 
siasm expressed in "the Marsellaise" hymn took hold of the 
soldiers. Against such enemies, the old, systematic method 
of warfare availed nothing, and the French troops began to 
inspire in their foes a panic like that once spread by the 
Hussites. At Hondscoten they defeated the English, and at 
Wattignies the Austrians (October 15 and 16); though the 
Prussians in the Palatinate under Brunswick were victorious 
at Pirmasens (September 14), at the lines of Weissenbourg 
(October 13), and finally, after a long and fierce struggle, at 
Kaiserslautern (November 28-30). It was here that Bliicher, 
already fifty years of age, first gained great distinction for 
his services at the head of his "red hussars." The Austrians 
under Wurmser were then attacked by the French in the 
lines of Weissenbourg, December 4 ; the Duke of Brunswick 
failed to support them, and they were compelled to retreat 
before the end of the year toward Manheim. The Prussians 
also retired, leaving the whole left bank of the Rhine to the 
enemy. Mutual recriminations followed, and the Duke of 
Brunswick resiirned his command. 



556 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

§ 13, The campaign of 1794 opened with some Austrian 
successes in Belgium, where the emperor commanded in per- 
son. But the French rapidly united their forces under Jour- 
dan, who on June 26, at Fleurus, fought an important battle 
with the Prince of Saxe Coburg. The immediate result 
seemed doubtful, but the Austrians gave way after the bat- 
tle, and gradually retired from nearly all Belgium. On July 
9 the French occupied Brussels. One after another, the Bel- 
gian fortresses yielded to them. Early in October the Aus- 
trians crossed the Rhine and abandoned Cologne, and in No- 
vember much of Holland fell into the hands of the French. 
In fact, Francis IT. had now resolved, at Thugut's instance, 
to abandon the Netherlands, looking for compensation in the 
final partition of Poland, and to join Russia, in order to over- 
shadow Prussia's influence in Germany. The Prussian treas- 
ury was exhausted, and the Prussian troops only kept the 
field on condition that Great Britain should advance most of 
their pay. In return, England wished to use these troops as 
its own, and to throw upon them the burden of the war in 
the Netherlands. In the Palatinate, the Prussians continued 
to be successful, under Mollendorf ; and at Kaiserslautern 
gained two victories this year (May 23 and September 1 8-20), 
in the first of which Bltlcher distinguished himself But the 
allies still found it impossible to act in concert, and the 
Prussians felt humiliated in being used as a mere hired in- 
strument; so the coalition fell to pieces. The revolt gain- 
ing ground in Poland, Frederick William wished to em- 
ploy his army there, and carried on secret negotiations with 
France for a separate peace. The French were of course 
eager to separate Prussia from Austria, even at a consider- 
able cost. In October the Prussians recrossed the Rhine, 
and the French occupied nearly the whole left bank of that 
river. 

§ 14. Early in 1795 the French under Pichegru wrested 
Holland from the English, and formed of it " the Batavian 
Republic." On April 5 the Peace of Basle was concluded 
between France and Prussia, by which Prussia ceded to 
France the German possessions on the left bank of the Rhine — 
Mors, Guelders, and Cleves — on condition that Prussia should 
be compensated on the right bank of the Rhine Avhenever 



Chap. XXV. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 557 

France should make peace with the empire ; and meanwhile 
Prussia, and all the German states which might adopt its 
policy, should be neutral. Hanover and Hesse-Cassel acceded 
to these terms, as did a number of the smaller states under 
Prussian influence. Prussia itself suffered sadly afterward 
from this abandonment of the common cause of Germany. 
Austria continued the war; but Thugut, its real ruler, a false 
and unscrupulous minister, was justly suspected of having no 
liigher end in view than further conquests, and especially the 
acquisition of Bavaria. In the summer of 1795 the war be- 
came active, two French armies advancing by Diisseldorf 
and Manheira to the Rhine, with frightful devastations. 
But the admirable Austrian general Clairfait succeeded in 
driving them back, and in obtaining a truce which left the 
former situation unchanged. 

§ 15. In 1*796 the French Republic placed in the field five 
ai'mies against England, Austria, and Sardinia. Two of 
these, the armies of the Maas and the Rhine, were to in- 
vade Germany; a third was to make an attack by way of 
Italy, and seek a junction with the others in the heart of 
Austria. The last was lying uselessly between the mount- 
ains and the sea near Nice, when by order of the Directory 
Napoleon Bonaparte took the command, March 30, 1796. 
He was then twenty-seven years of age, and had already dis- 
tinguished himself in the wars of the Revolution, but it was 
now that he entered upon his great career before the world. 
With scarcely 30,000 men, he set about invading a difficult 
country, defended by 60,000 Austrians and Sardinians under 
Beaulieu ; and though his men were hungry and in rags, and 
were most of them without experience, he promised them to 
take Milan within a month. 

§ 16. He kept his word. Beaulieu was seventy-two years 
old, and was excessively slow ; Bonaparte was fertile in ex- 
pedients, swift as thought in executing them, and could rely 
upon his generals and his men. He separated the Sardinians 
from the Austrians, and forced them to a truce, April 28, and 
soon afterward to a peace, May 15. He crossed the Po, turn- 
ed the Austrian lines, captured the bridge over the Adda at 
Lodi by a bold and terrible charge (May 10), and, as Beaulieu 
withdrew to Mantua, turned back and seized Milan, May 



558 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

14. On May 31 he crossed the Mincio, and the next day- 
took Vevona, and drove the Austrians back to the borders 
of the Tyrol, They advanced again, now commanded by 
Wurmser; but Napoleon defeated them repeatedly in Sep- 
tember, and drove them into Mantna, where he blockaded 
them all winter. A third army, under Alvinzi, was defeated 
by him at Areola in November and at Rivoli in January, 1797. 
Napoleon was now firmly intrenched in Northern Italy, and 
controlled nearly the whole peninsula, levying contributions 
and shaping governments at his will. It was he alone that 
obtained victories for France this year. 

§ 17. The French campaign in Germany ended in disaster. 
The young Archduke Charles, brother of the Emperor Fran- 
cis, was now commander-in-chief of the Austrian armies in 
Germany. In the spring he defeated the army of the Maas 
iinder Jourdan, near Wetzlar, and drove it back across the 
Rhine. Two armies then advanced under Jourdan and Mo- 
reau, and, although he skillfully prevented their junction, he 
retired before them far into Bavaria. But he obtained rein- 
forcements, and suddenly fell upon Jourdan at Amberg (Au- 
gust 24), and again at Wiirzburg (September 3), and drove 
him in headlong flight across the Rhine at Diisseldorf ; while 
the peasantry along his route avenged themselves upon his 
troops for their previous insolence and oppression. Moreau 
was now compelled to retreat through the Black Forest and 
across the Rhine. He conducted this march of thirty-seven 
days with a skill and success, under extreme difiiculties, 
which secured him great renown. 

§ 18. Archduke Charles was sent in the spring of 1797 to 
oppose Napoleon in Italy. Napoleon had already occupied 
Mantua (February 2) and crossed the Adige, and the arch- 
duke, whose army of 20,000 men was utterly insufficient to 
contend with Napoleon's 60,000, could only retreat before 
him. A French corps entered the Tyrol in March, and ap- 
'proached the Brenner, while Bonaparte with his main body 
of troops took Trieste, forced his way through the mountain 
passes to Klagenfurt, March 30, and into Styria, within thirty- 
six hours' march of Vienna. A great panic resulted in the 
Austrian capital ; though the Tyrolese infantry rising behind 
him, and the patriotic fervor of the Austrians, made Bona- 



Chap. XXV. PEACE OF CAMPO FORMIO. 559 

parte's position, so far from home, with an army now of 
scarcely 40,000 effective men, a very perilous one. The 
Austrian court was afraid, too, of any popular movement 
which might become revolutionary. Accordingly a truce 
was made, April 7, and on April 18 preliminaries of peace 
were signed at Leoben. Meanwhile Napoleon put an end to 
the republic of Venice, May 16, and in June incorporated it 
in "the Cisalpine Republic," comprising all Lombardy, w^hich, 
like the kingdom of Sardinia, now became the close friend 
and ally of France. 

§ 19. After discussions and negotiations between France 
and Austria which lasted all summer, the Peace of Campo 
Formio (a castle near Udine, where Napoleon had his head- 
quarters) was signed, October 17,1797. Austria ceded the 
duchy of Milan to the Cisalpine Rejjublic, and the Nether- 
lands to France ; but received Venice, Istria, and Dalmatia. 
In the original agreement at Leoben the integrity of the Ger- 
man Empire was avowedly guaranteed ; but at Campo Formio, 
by a secret article, Austria agreed to the cession of the left 
bank of the Rhine to France, on condition of obtaining the 
Archbishopric of Salzburg and part of Bavaria, and that 
Prussia should obtain no accession of territory. Thus the 
emperor himself bought peace and profit at the cost of the 
empire. 

§ 20. The German Empire was now abandoned by its two 
great powers. Neither of the two could reproach the other. 
The smaller states, also, had acted in the same spirit of timid, 
narrow selfishness ; nor had they the power to help them- 
selves. The first tidings of the French advance across the 
Rhine was the signal for a general flight, or a cowardly and 
crouching submission ; Charles Theodore, of the Palatinate 
and Bavaria, of course, setting the example. The pitiable 
condition of the empire was manifest to all, and the French 
now resolved to strike for " their national boundary, the 
Rhine," the goal of their wishes for centuries. 

§ 21. At the Peace of Campo Formio it had been deter- 
mined to hold a congress at Rastatt, of French as well as 
German embassadors, to arrange the terms by which the 
cessions to France west of the Rhine might be completed, 
and to establish peace with the empire. This congress met 



n 



560 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

December 9, 1797. The French insisted on the most extrav- 
agant concessions, trampling on all rights. The plans al- 
ready secretly agreed on with Prussia and Austria were 
boldly presented, France to take all west of the Rhine, and 
the dislodged princes to be recompensed out of the posses- 
sions of the Church, which were to be secularized. The ne- 
gotiations were protracted for a whole year, new difficulties 
constantly arising, though the German envoys, deserted by 
Prussia and Austria, could not directly resist the French de- 
mands. Meanwhile the French occupied the left bank of 
the Rhine, and organized their new possessions in all respects 
as parts of their republic. 

22. But the demands and conduct of the French grew 
more and more insolent. They either occupied or demanded 
the demolition of the fortresses on the German side of the 
Rhine — Kehl, Manheim, Castel, and Ehrenbreitstein. A new 
"daughter republic" was formed out of the states of the 
Church (February 15, 1798), and another, the Helvetic Repub- 
lic, out of Switzerland (April 12). In May, Bonaparte made 
an adventurous expedition to Egypt, conquering on his way 
Malta, the home of the Knights of St. John, and won new 
laurels at the battles of the Pyramids and the Nile. En- 
gland believed itself threatened, and Pitt the younger, now 
prime -minister, earnestly strove to form a new coalition. 
Paul I. had succeeded his mother, Catharine II., in Russia in 
1796, and, though a passionate and unwise prince, he inherited 
her hatred for the Revolution. Russia was therefore easily 
induced to attempt the restoration of the old order of things 
in Europe. Austria, too, disappointed in the hopes of gain 
which had led it to accept the Peace of Campo Formio, was 
now inclined to the coalition. On April 13, 1798, Bernadotte, 
the French embassador, displayed the tricolored flag of the 
republic at a festival at Vienna. A tumult resulted, amid 
Avhich Bernadotte left the city ; and the French government 
demanded satisfaction in vain. Prussia could not be induced 
to join the coalition, but it was completed, in January, 1799, 
by the adhesion of England, Austria, Russia, Sicily, and Tur- 
key. 

§ 23. The confederates were at first successful. Archduke 
Charles gained a victory at Stockach, March 25, and drove 



Chap. XXV. SUWAROFF IN ITALY. 561 

the French back across the Rhine. In Switzerland and Italy, 
too, the Austrians were victorious. The Congress of Rastatt 
went on, stupidly and patiently discussing the French de- 
mands, long after Austria had begun hostilities again, and 
only dissolved when the Austrian troops actually appeared 
before the city. The French embassadors, who had recently 
published the secret agreements at Campo Formio, were "at- 
tacked by the Austrian hussars as they left Rastatt (April 28), 
two of them killed, and the third, though severely wounded, 
was sent over the French frontier by the Austrians. This 
horrible deed was really the work of Thugut and Lehrbach, 
the Austrian ministers, who hoped to find among the embas- 
sadors' papers evidence of treason on the part of some of the 
German princes. In April, the Russian general Suwaroff, the 
indomitable and bloody conqueror of Ismail, took command 
of the united Russian and Austrian forces in Italy ; and the 
"daughter republics" of France which Bonaparte had cre- 
ated fell in ruins. Recalled by the Czar to Switzerland, Su- 
waroff made a famous passage of the Alps, only to find the 
French, under Massena, in possession of the outlets at Lake 
Lucerne and the valley of the Muotta, so that he was com- 
pelled to make another dangerous march to the Rhine, Dis- 
sensions now began in the coalition. Paul I. was zealous for 
the old order of things, but suspected Austria of seeking ag- 
grandizement in Bavaria and Sardinia, The English and 
Russian troops in Holland had been unsuccessful. The Czar 
therefore recalled his army, and the second coalition began 
to dissolve. 

§ 24. Meanwhile Napoleon returned from Egypt, overthrew 
the Directory, Kovember 10 (I8th Brumaire), 1799, and caused 
himself to be chosen first consul of the republic for ten 
years, Christmas -day, 1799. His powers were dictatorial, 
and he was the most absolute ruler in Europe. In a high- 
sounding letter he offered peace to England and Austria, but 
after a long correspondence, the negotiations failed to reach 
any result. In the spring of 1 800, Moreau advanced triumph- 
antly into Bavaria, while Massena, by his obstinate defense 
of Genoa, wore out the strength of the Austrian general Me- 
las, Bonaparte meanwhile gathered large forces in Eastern 
France, and in May rapidly led sixty thousand men across 

Go 



562 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

the pass of the Great St. Bernard, and through the valley of 
Dora Baltea, into the plain of Lombardy. 

§ 25. On June 4 Genoa surrendered to the Austrians ; but 
they were suddenly attacked by Napoleon, and on the 14th a 
general action took place at Marengo. Melas, the Austrian 
commander, had gained great advantages, and made sure 
of victory, when General Desaix brought up two fresh di- 
visions of the French, and by a fierce charge of his guards, 
in which he was slain, decided the day in favor of Napo- 
leon. The Austrians only obtained an armistice on condi- 
tion of retiring beyond the Mincio, and abandoning all the 
fruits of the last year of victory. But Austria was now fully 
committed to the alliance with Great Britain, and only wish- 
ed to gain time. The truce expired without any further 
agreement, and then Moreau, with eighty thousand men, at- 
tacked the Archduke John and General Wrede, with one hun- 
dred thousand Austrians and Bavarians, at llohenlinden (east 
of Munich), December 3, 1800, and gained a complete vic- 
tory, which enabled him to cross the Enns, and invade the 
very heart of Austria. 

§ 26. Austria could carry on the war no longer. Napoleon 
liad already secured the friendship of Paul I., the fickle Czar 
of Russia, and was able to dictate to Austria the terms of 
the peace which was concluded at Luneville, February 9, 
1801. It was also formally accepted by the German Empire, 
March 9. The treaty of Campo Formio was renewed; the 
Adige was to be the boundary of Austria in Italy ; the Rhine, 
that between France and Germany. The Hapsburg dukes 
of Modena and Tuscany were to receive, as a compensation 
for their Italian territories, the Breisgau and Salzburg. In 
<Hher respects the agreements of the Congress of Rastatt 
were adopted. The losses of the several secular princes were 
to be made up by the secularization of the territories of the 
prelates. Germany lost by this treaty about 24,000 square 
miles of its best territory and 3,500,000 of its people ; while 
the princes were indemnified by the plunder of their peers. 

§ 27. But the hardest task, the satisfactory distribution of 
this plunder, remained. While the Diet at Regensburg, after 
much complaint and management, assigned tlie arrangement 
of these aftairs to a committee, the princely bargainers were 



Chap. XXV. SECULARIZATION OF CHURCH LANDS. 563 

in Paris, employing the most disgraceful means to obtain the 
favor of Talleyrand and other influential diplomatists. On 
the 25th of February, 1803, the final decision of the delega- 
tion or committee of the empire was adopted by the Diet 
and promulgated with the approval of the emperor, Francis 
II., and of Prussia and Bavaria. It confiscated all the 
spiritual principalities in Germany, except that the Elector 
of Mayence, Charles Theodore of Dalberg, received Regens- 
burg, Aschaffenburg, and Wetzlar as an indemnity, and re- 
tained a seat and a voice in the imperial Diet. Of the forty- 
eight free cities of the empire, six only remained — Hamburg, 
Bremen, Lubeck, Frankfort, Nuremberg, and Augsburg. 
Austria obtained the bishoprics of Trent and Brixen ; Prus- 
sia, as a compensation for the loss of 1018 square miles with 
122,000 inhabitants west of the Rhine, received 4875 square 
miles, with 580,000 inhabitants, including the endowments of 
the religious houses of Hildesheim and Paderborn, and most 
of Miinster ; also Erfurt and Eichsfeld, and the free cities of 
Nordhausen, Miihlhausen, and Goslar ; Hanover obtained Os- 
nabruck; to Bavaria, in exchange for the Palatinate, were 
assigned Wtirzburg, Bamberg, Freisingen, Augsburg, and 
Passau, besides a number of cities of the empire, in all about 
6150 square miles, to compensate for 4240, vastly increasing 
its political importance. Wirtemberg, too, was richly com- 
pensated for the loss of the Mumpelgard by the confiscation 
of monastery endowments and free cities in Suabia. But 
Baden made the best bargain of all, receiving about 1270 
square miles of land, formerly belonging to bishops or to the 
Palatinate, in exchange for 170, After this acquisition, Ba- 
den extended, though in patches, from the Neckar to the 
Swiss border. By building up these three South German 
states, Napoleon sought to erect a barrier for himself against 
Austria and Prussia. With the same design, Hesse-Darm- 
stadt and Nassau were much enlarged. There were multi- 
tudes of smaller changes, under the name of "compensa- 
tions and indemnities." Four new lay electorates were es- 
tablished in the place of the three secularized prelacies, and 
were given to Baden, Wirtemberg, Hesse-Cassel, and Salz- 
burg. But they never had occasion to take part in the elec- 
tion of an emperor. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

FROM THE PKACE OF LUNEVILLE TO THE PEACE OF TILSIT, 

1802-1807. 

§ 1. Condition of Germany in 1802. § 2. Tlie French Attack Hanover. 
§ 3. Conspiracy of Pichegru and Cadoitdal. § 4. Napoleon Emperor of 
the French. § 5. Alexander I., Czar of Russia. The Third Coalition. 
§ 6. Military Preparations. § 7. General Macli's Incompetency and Sur- 
render. § 8. Threatening Attitude of Prussia. § 9. Battle of Austerlitz. 
§ 10. Treaties of Presburg and Schonbrunn. § 11. King Frederick Will- 
iam III. of Prussia. § 1 2. Social and Military Degeneracy in Prussia. 
§ 13. Its Growth; its Diplomacy. § 14. The Rhine League. End of the 
Holy Roman Empire. § 15. Napoleon forces War on Prussia. § 10. 
Blindness of the King. § 17. The Prussian Ultimatum. Opening of the 
Campaign. § 18. Friendliness of England. Position of the Forces. §19. 
Battle of Jena. §20. Battle of Auerstadt. §21. Disastrous Consequences 
to Prussia. § 22. Bliicher's Defense. § 23. The King's Flight. Loss 
of Magdeburg. § 24. Promises of Russia. Napoleon in Poland. § 25. 
Battle of Eylau. Valor of Colberg and Schill. § 26. Treaty of Barten- 
stein. Russia Deserts Prussia. § 27. Peace of Tilsit. § 28. The Rhine 
League Strengthened. Death of Brunswick. § 29. The Kingdom of 
Westphalia Formed. 

§ 1. The treaties of Basle, Carapo Formio, and Lnneville, 
with the crowning disgrace of the work of the deputation, 
completed the destruction of the German Empire — long a hol- 
low form. The Peace of Westphalia itself had brought no 
greater humiliation. None of the German powers were free 
from blame for the result ; every one had adopted Napoleon's 
own principles, and sought for plunder. Meanwhile the 
German people looked on helplessly and idly, while the em- 
pire was overthrown, the country cut to pieces, and its bound- 
aries narrowed; and it was more obvious than ever that 
they were not a nation, though no one seemed to feel the 
force of this truth until still more severely scourged. 

§ 2. Napoleon concluded the Peace of Amiens with En- 
gland March 27, 1802, and seemed actually to wish for a pe- 
riod of peace with the world. But quiet was not long main- 
tained. The English were now in Malta, but agreed in the 



Chap. XXVI. NAPOLEON INVADES HANOVER. 566 

treaty of Amiens to restore it to the Knights of St. John, and 
France insisted that the surrender should be made without 
delay. In Parliament, Pitt constantly stirred up the war 
feeling against France; and in May, 1803, both countries 
took up arms again. Napoleon was weak at sea, and resolved 
to attack Great Britain in Hanover, although that country 
had proclaimed its neutrality in the war. On May 26 General 
Mortier suddenly led 12,000 French into Hanover from Hol- 
land ; and although they had an army of 15,000 men ready 
for action, the Hanoverians were panic-struck, and afraid, 
above all, of provoking the French to fight. The regency 
gave their general-in-chief the ludicrous order, " Not to per- 
mit the troops to fire, and to use the bayonet only under ex- 
treme necessity and with moderation." On June 3 they 
signed a convention, in effect giving the country, with its 
military stores and fortresses, and a large sum of money in the 
treasury, into Napoleon's hands, while they withdrew their 
army to Lauenburg, beyond the Elbe, and there, on July 5, 
disarmed and disbanded it. The people, who were spirited 
enough in themselves, were compelled to see a little French 
army take possession of the country and quarter themselves 
there without a shot. The only pretext for the invasion 
was that the King of England chanced to be also Elector of 
Hanover, which however was German, not British territory. 
But the empire looked on indifferently, when one of its chief 
members was thus wrested from it. Prussia, for its own 
protection, proposed to England to join in occupying Hanover 
and guaranteeing its neutrality ; but when this offer was re- 
fused, made no further opposition to the seizure by foreigners 
of a territory which lay between its own eastern and western 
possessions. For Napoleon meanwhile held out to Frederick 
William HI. the hope of securing Hanover, or part of it, to 
Prussia ; and this remote bribe was enough to blind the 
Prussian court, for the time, to the common danger of Ger- 
many. In December, 1803, a convention was signed between 
Prussia and France, by which Frederick William III. bound 
himself to peace and'friendship with Napoleon, on no better 
conditions than that France should not dispose of Hanover 
without the knowledge and consent of Prussia. 

§ 3. There had been in France a number of conspiracies 



566 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

against Napoleon's dictatorship, both among Republicans and 
Royalists ; but he overcame them all, and turned them to bis 
own advantage. The most famous of them was that of which 
Pichegru, the famous Republican general, and George Cadou- 
dal, formerly chief of the insurgents in La Vendee, were lead- 
ers. They, with forty-five others, were arrested, January 16, 
1804; the tw^o chiefs were put to death, and many of the 
rest imprisoned. General Moreau was sentenced to prison 
for two years, and then banished to America. At Ettenheim, 
in Baden, the Duke d'Enghien, of the Bourbon family, lived 
in exile as a private gentleman. He was accused of being 
a confederate of Pichegru, and in the night of March 15, four 
hundred French soldiers crossed the Rhine, thus invading 
German territory in time of peace, seized the duke and bis 
attendants, and brought him to Strasburg, and thence to 
Vincennes; when he was condemned under the form of a 
court-martial, and on March 21 was shot in the castle ditch. 
But Germany had sunk so low that the Diet at Regensburg 
had not even a protest to ofier, and the German Empire was 
silent, while Russia and Sweden, as well as England, de- 
nounced the deed, and at once broke off diplomatic inter- 
course with France. 

§ 4. Napoleon now attained the object of his long-cherish- 
ed aspirations, the imperial crown. In 1802, he became Pres- 
ident of the Italian Republic, and consul for life. On May 18, 
1804, he was proclaimed Emperor of the French, and, by the 
form of a plebiscite, or popular vote, the oiRce was made he- 
reditary in his family. The pope was summoned to Paris for 
the coronation, and on December 2 Napoleon was crowned 
and anointed emperor in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Most 
of the European powers recognized his title without hesita- 
tion. On August 10, 1804, Francis II., whose authority as 
Emperor of Germany was now but a name, assumed the he- 
reditary title of Emperor of Austria, as Francis I., and then 
acknowledged the new dignity of Bonaparte. But England, 
Russia, Sweden, and Turkey refused to recognize it. During 
this year Napoleon visited Aix, Cologne, and Mayence, imi- 
tating ii\ the seats of the strength and glory of the ancient 
German Em])ire the state of Charlemagne, and finding every 
where a slavish spirit of humiliation before him. Even the 



Chap. XXVI. THIRD COALITION AGAINST NAPOLEON. 567 

Germans, who were not his subjects, and did not worship his 
success, showed little sense of the degradation of their coun- 
try. 

§ 5. Austria was not content with the Peace of Luneville 
and the conventions which followed it. In 1801, Czar Paul 
was assassinated. His son and successor, Alexander, was a 
gentle and sensitive youth, capable of enthusiasm for a good 
cause, zealous for the welfare of his people, but wavering, 
and easily influenced. He had been a warm admirer of Na- 
poleon, but was alienated from him by the false conduct of 
France in the negotiations with England after the Peace of 
Luneville. Thus Austria and Russia were both ready for 
war, while England, guided by Pitt, was as hostile to Napo- 
leon as ever. The conversion of the Italian Republic into a 
kingdom, March, 1805, the assumption by Napoleon of the 
iron crown of Lombardy, May 26, the annexation of parts of 
Italy to France, and the appointment of his stepson, Eugene 
Beauharnais, as vice-King of Italy, further displeased all the 
powers. The English minister, therefore, found it easy to 
engage Russia (by treaty signed April 11, 1805) and Aus- 
tria (August 9) to join Great Britain in a new coalition. It 
was hoped that Prussia would also join, and the Czar Alex- 
ander even threatened to force it to do so. He sent his ar- 
mies to the frontier, and haughtily demanded the right of 
way through the country. But King Fi-ederick William III. 
kept his word to France, and sent his armies to resist every 
violation of his neutrality. Alexander then resorted to mild- 
er measui-es; but the neutrality of Prussia was strictly main- 
tained, until it was soon after shamefully violated by Napo- 
leon himself 

§ 6. Sweden and Naples joined the coalition, and it was de- 
signed to make a grand attack on France at once from Italy 
and from Germany, and, in case of success, to set free or di- 
vide the states under Napoleon's sway, and to restore the 
old order in Europe. It was only the princes, however, not 
the people, who set their hearts on such schemes. Napoleon 
prepared at Boulogne an exj^edition to England. It was in- 
ferred from this that he was not yet ready for war on the 
Continent, and the allies hoped to surprise him. But he was 
fully advised of all their plans, which were at best slow and 



568 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

confused in their execution. The only army of suitable 
strength which they had was that of the Archduke Charles 
in Italy. In Germany, the army assigned to General Mack, 
to occupy Bavaria, to check Napoleon's friends, the Electors 
of Wirtemberg and Baden, and to oppose the emperor him- 
self, was wholly inadequate for these purposes. The Russian 
armies came on slowly. The first only reached the Inn, and 
the second the frontier of Moravia, in October. 

§ 7. But the greatest mistake was the choice of a com- 
mander-in-chief. Mack was full of fantastic schemes of war 
on paper. He invaded Bavaria ; but the elector. Max Jo- 
seph, who succeeded Charles Theodore at his death in 1799, 
easily escaped from him, and led his troops to Napoleon, who 
was also joined by the armies of Wirtemberg and Baden. 
Mack brought together his forces of 57,000 men on the 
Upper Danube, at Ulm, confident in his strong position. 
Napoleon disposed his army according to thd plan he had 
Ibrmed for his invasion of England, and surprised Mack'by a 
sudden attack. Each division of his army marched, with per- 
fect precision though independently, and under its own mar- 
shal, against the Germans, all of them pursuing the radii of 
a circle, converging to its centre at Ulm. Mack was sur- 
rounded before he knew of the enemy's approach. Berna- 
dotte made his way from Hanover, through the Anspach ter- 
ritory, without regard to Prussian neutrality. Mack's blind 
confidence was no sooner broken than, finding himself sur- 
rounded by nearly 200,000 men, he fell into despair, and, 
on October 17, 1805, surrendered, with the 25,000 men who 
still remained with him. The troops laid down their arms 
in gloomy silence, victims to the folly of their leader. The 
rest of the campaign was also unfortunate. The first army 
of the Russians, under Kutusoff", reached the Inn, but now 
turned back "into Moravia. Napoleon's marshals — Murat, 
Lannes, and Bertrand — occupied Vienna without opposition. 
Napoleon himself advanced into Moravia, where the decisive 
contest promised to take place. 

§ 8. But new dangers began to threaten him. Prussia was 
irritated by the violation of its neutrality, and suddenly re- 
solved — or, as was the king's habit, half resolved — to join the 
coalition. The Czar Alexander visited Berlin in person, and 



Chap. XXVI. THE BATTLE OF AUSTEELITZ. 569 

formed an intimate friendship with King Frederick William 
III. Haugwitz was sent by the Prussian king to Napoleon's 
head-quarters, to propose a treaty of peace, under the media- 
tion of Prussia, by which the French should leave Germany; 
and if this were refused, Prussia promised to join the coali- 
tion with 180,000 men. Besides this, the Archdukes Charles 
and John were approaching from Italy, Styria, and the Tyrol, 
with nearly 90,000 men, threatening Napoleon's rear. The 
Russians, newly reinforced and commanded by Czar Alex- 
ander and General Kutusoif, were before him, with a -third 
army under Benningsen on the march to join them. The 
French fleet was destroyed by Nelson at Trafalgar (October 
21), and the British had landed in Hanover, where the people 
were joining them. All these things together made Napo- 
leon's position very critical. 

§ 9. Napoleon was equal to the emergency. He easily dis- 
posed of the dilatory Haugwitz, by merely referring him to 
Talleyrand at Vienna. The policy of the allies was now to 
avoid a battle ; but Napoleon skillfully feigned fear and 
flight, to draw them on. Alexander was impatient, and he 
and his arrogant Russians were at once ensnared. The bat- 
tle of the three emperors, of Napoleon against Alexander I. 
and Francis I., was fought at Austerlitz, near Brtinn, Decem- 
ber 2, 1805, on the anniversary of Napoleon's coronation. 
When " the sun of Austerlitz" set, it was on the routed army 
of his opponents, whose remnants were seeking safety by 
flight across a narrow dam between two lakes, or upon the 
thin ice which broke beneath, giving thousands of them to 
death. 

§ 10. This victory brought a speedy peace. Two days 
after it, the Emperor Francis, who was thoroughly disheart- 
ened, and distrusted his allies, met Napoleon, and decided 
with him upon the terms in a personal interview, held in a 
small hut. Francis never forgot the humiliation of this 
meeting, which made him Napoleon's bitter foe ; but it led 
to peace for a time, and the treaty was signed at Presburg, 
December 26. Austria ceded Venice to the kingdom of Italy, 
the Tyrol and Voralberg to Bavaria, and some portions of 
the Breisgau to Wirtemberg and Baden, but obtained Salz- 
burg as a compensation. Bavaria gave the duchy of Berg 



570 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

to Murat, and Wurzburg to the Elector of Salzburg. The 
Emperor of Germany was compelled to acknowledge the 
Dukes of Bavaria and Wirtemberg as kings, and they and the 
Grand-Duke of Baden were to be sovereign and independent. 
He was also required to assent to the establishment of a 
Germanic Confederation, under the protectorate of Napoleon. 
But Haugwitz and his country, Prussia, fared worst of all. 
After the battle of Austerlitz, Haugwitz dared not fulfill his 
mission ; but Napoleon knew its purport, and watched his 
opportunity for revenge. On December 15, the very day on 
which the king had directed him to declare war, he signed 
the Peace of Schonbrunu, by which Prussia was to receive 
Hanover, as the reward of an alliance with France, The 
purpose of Napoleon to embroil Prussia with England and 
Russia was too obvious not to be perceived, but how was it 
possible to offend Napoleon by a refusal ? Two months later 
this treaty was renewed at Paris ; but Haugwitz was now 
compelled in return to cede the ancient Hohenzollern terri- 
tory of Anspach to Bavaria, and the remnant of Cleves to 
Murat, as Gi'and-Duke of Berg. Napoleon's plan was thus 
ripe : Prussia was completely isolated from the other great 
powers, and lay at his mercy. 

§ 11. Ever since the Peace of Basle, in 1795, Prussia had 
preserved its neutrality. But this position was unsatisfac- 
tory, and was not in harmony with the traditions of the 
kingdom, which had formerly aspired to defend the German 
frontiers, and even to be the arbiter of Europe. Frederick 
William II. died November 16, 1797 ; and his son, Frederick 
William HI. (1797-1840), succeeded him, at the age of twenty- 
seven ; a man of a fine, soldierly presence, of few and simple 
words, of reserved manners, and of truly noble aims. But 
he had been educated by narrow men, apart from affairs, and 
had not yet acquired maturity of character, nor the confidence 
in himself which is essential to a great ruler. The old coun- 
cilors of his father still exercised an influence which was 
ruinous to him and to the state. Many abuses were reformed ; 
the king's own morals were pure and his conduct dignified ; 
while his beautiful and intelligent queen, Louise of Mecklen- 
burg-Strelitz (born 1776, died 1810), graced his court, and 
won the hearts of the people. While still but the wife of 



Chap. XXVI. PRUSSIA IN DECLINE. 571 

the cvown-pvince, the old king called her " the princess of 
princesses;" and poets such as Goethe and Jean Paul did 
homage to her beauty and character, no one foreboding as 
yet the terrible suflerings she was to endure, or dreaming of 
the good work she would do, in dark hours to come. But 
the family of the young king, with his pure wife and their 
children, had but little influence on life around them in their 
court and capital. The Spartan spirit of earlier days in 
Prussia had given way before vanity, a passion for display, 
luxury, and indiflerence to religion. German literature was 
at its zenith in the last ten years of the eighteenth century, 
and Berlin was one of the principal centres of its productive- 
ness and influence. But it resulted in producing, side by side 
with the vanity of social display, the new fashionable vanity 
of literary display. Hardly a thought was given to the ruin 
of the German nation, or even to the dangers which were 
accumulating before Prussia itself. 

§ 12. Prussian statesmanship shared in the decay of society 
and manners. The honest purpose of the young king accom- 
plished some good ends. He immediately revoked the edict 
of Wollner, controlling the preaching in the churches ; and 
introduced economies which improved the finances. He 
built some fine edifices, such as the Brandenburg Gate, in 
Berlin, and opened public roads through the country. Much 
was done to promote science and art, and to improve the 
education of the people. But the antiquated machine of the 
administration remained in substance as it had been left bj^ 
Frederick William I. and Frederick the Great, with all its 
imperfections. Haugwitz, a superficial, unscrupulous, and 
vain minister, conducted foreign affairs, without any sense 
of the dangers of the kingdom, and was supported by men 
like Lucchesini and Lombard, of whom the latter was actually 
in French pay. The army was in the worst possible condi- 
tion. With a population of about ten millions, Prussia 
maintained an army of 200,000 men, splendid to look at, and 
drilled, in the most pedantic and wearisome fashion, on the 
field of exercise, but without any experience in battle, and 
full of pride founded on the traditions of the Seven-Years' 
War. The common soldiers had fallen into ever-deeper con- 
tempt, under the terrible and humiliating discipline of stripes 



572 HISTORY OF GEHMANY. Book V. 

and violence to which they were subjected. The officers 
were almost exclusively of noble birth. Whatever natural 
merits they had were lost in the habits of an army in a 
long peace. The elder officers were generally rigid and 
formal ; the younger ones vain and presumptuous ; and 
nearly all were pufled up with the fond fancy that their 
army was invincible. This notion was only strengthened 
by the easy campaign of 1787 in Holland, and was not 
broken or corrected by their severe experience in Cham- 
pagne in 1792, or by the campaigns of 1793 and 1794 in the 
Palatinate. 

§ 13. The external growth of Prussia continued. In 1791 
the ancient Hohenzollern possessions of Anspach and Bai- 
reuth fell to the Prussian monarchy. By the Peace of Lune- 
ville, and the subsequent distribution of the spoils of the 
Church, Prussia obtained five districts, amounting to nearly 
4500 square miles, not by conquest, but by the dangerous 
friendship of an upstart conqueror, who within a year after- 
ward occupied Hanover, and cut off the western provinces 
from the seat of government. The Prussians had ever since 
been eager to make themselves masters of Hanover, yet had 
not the boldness to do so by frankly accepting Napoleon's 
offers of alliance. Thus Napoleon himself came to hate and 
despise a government which acted with such weakness and 
irresolution toward him. Prussia tried for a long time in 
vain to form a league of the German princes to protect the 
neutrality of North Germany. In 1805 Prussia was so little 
feared that we have seen Alexander hoping to compel it by 
threats to join the coalition. Just after its refusal the French 
violated the neutrality of Anspach, and excited the king's 
fierce indignation. Then the Emperor Alexander visited King 
Frederick William HI. at Potsdam ; and the personal friend- 
ship of the monarchs, begun at Memel in 1802, turned the 
scale. Alexander wished to visit the grave of Frederick 
the Great, and on this spot the two monarchs pledged 
their friendship to one another. Prussia seemed resolved on 
war, and was in a position by speedy action to ruin Napo- 
leon. But there was still delay ; and then came the battle 
of Austerlitz, and the unauthorized treaty made by Tlaug- 
witz. Napoleon had calculated well. By seizing Hanover, 



Chap. XXVI. END OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. 573 

in January, 1806, Prussia made an enemy of England, which 
declared war June 11, and at once swept Prussia's merchant 
vessels from the sea. By accepting gifts from Napoleon also, 
against whom it was pledged to fight, Prussia earned the dis- 
trust of every ally, as false and treacherous. Thus Napo- 
leon isolated Prussia on all sides before attacking it. 

§ 14. Napoleon now offered Prussia only contempt and 
provocation. In the campaign of 1805, Baden, Wirtemberg, 
and Bavaria joined him, and they made an open alliance with 
him after the Peace of Presburg. On July 17, 1806, these 
countries, together with Mayence, Darmstadt, Nassau, Wlirz- 
burg, Berg (whose grand-duke was now Mhrat, Napoleon's 
brother-in-law), and several smaller states, formed the Rhine 
League, under the protectorate of Napoleon, and became his 
mere tools. On August 1 the princes of the league notified 
the Diet at Regensburg of their withdrawal from the em- 
pire, justifying the act on the plea of necessity, since the em- 
pire no longer afforded them protection, and of the example 
already set by the more powerful princes of the empire. On 
August 6, Francis II. .abdicated the imperial crown of Ger- 
many; and thus, without a battle, the empire of Charle- 
magne, after a thousand years, came to an nnhonored end. 
It had long been but a name. George III. of Great Britain, 
indeed, as Elector of Hanover, declared that the abdication 
of Francis, under duress, was without validity, and that he 
must regard emperor and empire as still existing ; but neither 
of them gave a sign of life again. 

§ 15. Prussia complained with good reason of this threat- 
ening acquisition of power by France. Napoleon cunningly 
proposed that Prussia should form a similar league of the rest 
of the German states, and should even assume the imperial 
crown ; but secretly urged the princes of the smaller territo- 
ries not to attach themselves to Prussia. On January 23,1 806, 
William Pitt died, and Lord Grenville and Charles James 
Fox took the control of the British government. Believing 
the new ministry to be less hostile to him. Napoleon began 
to negotiate for peace, and even secretly offered to compel 
Prussia to restore Hanover to Great Britain. Under his di- 
rection, Murat seized on the Prussian abbeys of Elten, Essen, 
and Werden, and annexed them to his possessions of Berg. 



5V4 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

Immediately afterward General Schulenberg invaded Hano- 
ver, and formally proclaimed it a conquest of the Emperor 
Napoleon, ceded by him to the kingdom of Prussia, April 1, 
1806. But by this time every body could understand the 
systematic policy of France, to humiliate Prussia and pro- 
voke it to war. Indeed, the British cabinet made Napoleon's 
proposition known at Berlin. 

§ 16. The best minds in Prussia had long seen that war 
was unavoidable, and that the king must change his minis- 
ters. Early in 1806 some of the most eminent men in the 
kingdom, led by Stein, a member of the ministry, and by the 
king's brothers. Princes William and Henry, made pressing 
representations to him of this necessity ; but Frederick Will- 
iam, accustomed to the absolute views of royalty entertain- 
ed by his predecessors, regarded this step as an attack on his 
supreme authority, and was offended. Luchesini, too, his 
minister in Paris, was completely blinded by Talleyrand and 
Napoleon. But as France grew more insolent, Prussian pride 
rose high in the people as well as in the army, and the younger 
officers were especially zealous for war. Some of them sharp- 
ened their swords before the windows of the French embas- 
sy, and others sent their sergeants to the theatre, to join in 
the chorus, " Up, comrades, up ! to horse ! to horse !" in Schil- 
ler's " Wallenstein." 

§ 17. Before the summer of 1806 ended the king himself 
recognized the impossibility of avoiding war, though he came 
to his resolution anxiously and with hesitation, knowing the 
weakness of the country. The army, which had been partly 
in readiness for a year, was directed toward Central and 
Southern Germany, where the states of the new Rhine League 
held a threatening position, and where the French army of 
1805 still stood, almost ready for action. Frederick William 
III. demanded of Napoleon the withdrawal of these troops 
from Germany, and his consent to the formation of a North 
German League. When Napoleon received this ultimatum 
at Bamberg he was already quietly gathering his army in 
Franconia to march into Thuringia. Together with his Ger- 
man troops of the Rhine League, he had about 200,000 men. 
The Prussian armies, about 150,000 strong, were placed un- 
der the command of Duke Charles William Ferdinand of 



Chap. XXVI. DISASTERS OF PRUSSIA. 575 

Brunswick, now seventy-two years of age. In spite of his 
misfortune in Champagne he was still every where regarded 
as the proper leader against Napoleon, The duke had at 
first been bold in his plans of attack ; but neither his own 
age nor his army was fit for a rapid and energetic campaign, 
and he soon abandoned all thought but of defense. There 
seemed to be, indeed, no comprehensive plan ; yet amid hope- 
less confusion there was still overweening confidence. 

§ 18. The only allies secured by Prussia were Saxony and 
Weimar. Austria was neutral, and helpless to assist. Rus- 
sia was sincere in sympathy, but could not reach the field of 
war in time. England was actually at war with Prussia, 
but, on learning of the breach with Napoleon, at once discon- 
tinued the blockade of the Prussian ports, and ofiered to re- 
new diplomatic intercourse, without waiting even for Prussia 
to abandon its claims on Hanover. In fact, the British gov- 
ernment and people were thoroughly in sympathy with Prus- 
sia throughout the campaign, though a formal peace was not 
signed between them until January 28, 1807, and England 
was no more able than the Continental allies to avert the 
impending disasters. It was the intention of the Prussians, 
at first, to defend the Saale against the French. After long 
delay and hesitation, half the army, under Prince Hohenlohe, 
took up a position at Jena, while the rest, under Brunswick 
himself, encamped at Weimar. A formal declaration of war 
was made by Napoleon October 1. He had already passed 
the Thuringian forest, and his troops were marching down 
the valley of the Saale, when at Saalfeld they fell upon the 
weak Prussian vanguard under Prince Louis Ferdinand. The 
prince made a valiant resistance, but was defeated and slain 
(October 10,1806). 

§ 19, This was but the prelude to disaster. It became 
known at head-quarters that Napoleon's marshals had already 
passed Schleitz and Gera, and threatened to surround the 
Prussians. It was resolved, therefore, to take another posi- 
tion behind the Unstrut. But in three days after the battle 
of Saalfeld Napoleon was at Jena, In the night of Oc- 
tober 13 his troops dragged their cannon up the Landgrafen- 
berg, north of Jena, which commanded the valley of the 
Saale. Hohenlohe had occupied these heights, but, under 



576 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

orders, abandoned them to the enemy. The morning of Oc- 
tober 14 was foggy, and the Prussians could not see the 
numbers of the French ; but they were unable in any case to 
avoid a battle, for the columns of the enemy poured into the 
plain through two valleys, and attacked them on both sides. 
After a valiant resistance, they were thoroughly routed, just 
at the time when Riichel's corps arrived on the field, hoping 
to relieve them, but only to complete the disaster by its own 
ruin. The Prussian army fled in wild confusion in the di- 
rection of Weimar. 

§ 20. On the same morning the main army of the Duke of 
Brunswick, on its march toward the new position, fell in 
with the French corps of Davoust at Auerstiidt, within 
twelve miles of Jena, on the left bank of the Saale. These 
troops were sent by Napoleon, with the design of attack- 
ing Hohenlohe at Jena in the rear, and they passed the 
Saale without opposition. The Prussians here had vastly 
superior numbers, but they made their attack at random, 
and in detached parties, under the orders of the king. During 
the action the Duke of Brunswick was mortally wounded. 
General Bliicher made a desperate cavahy charge, but could 
not retrieve the fortunes of the day. Both the defeated ar- 
mies mingled in utter confusion in their flight to Weimar ; 
but on the same evening the French pursuers entered the 
city. 

§ 21. A single day had crushed Prussia. The army was 
now a disorganized throng, and dispersed rapidly, the com- 
manders losing all control over the men. Erfurt should have 
formed their first rallying-place. General Mollendorf was 
taken thither, desperately wounded. It was a strong, well- 
provided fortress, with an ample garrison ; but was surren- 
dered in a panic, October 15, the day after the battle; and 
the example was followed by other places. Out of the 
general wreck Bliicher gathered some remnants of troops, 
and led them through the Hartz and Altmark to the Elbe, 
Sharply pursued by the French, he managed with great 
difticulty to cross the river at Sandau. Colonel York, in com- 
mand of his rear-guard, was the first to show, in the brilliant 
affair of Altenzann, that Prussian valor was not a thing of 
the past. The main body of the fugitives strove to pass 



Chap. XXVI. NAPOLEON IN BERLIN. 577 

Magdeburg, and escape into the Hartz, while the French 
marched directly through Leipsic and Halle to Berlin. They 
plundered Leipsic, and at Halle defeated and destroyed the 
reserve army of the Prussians under Prince Eugene of Wir- 
temberg, October 17. Hohenlohe strove to gather the scat- 
tered army under the defenses of Magdeburg, but the com- 
mander of this important fortress declared that he could not 
furnish supplies. It was necessary to retreat beyond the 
Oder, to Stettin, while the French were approaching Pots- 
dam and Berlin. In the capital city nothing was left of the 
ancient heroism and persistency. Face to face with these 
great misfortunes, the commander of the city. Count Schu- 
lenberg-Kehnert, had no advice to give but that peace was 
now the first duty of citizens. Spandau capitulated October 
18, without a shot. Napoleon entered Berlin October 27, 
while Marshals Lannes and Murat marched swiftly to cut off 
the retreat of Hohenlohe to the Oder. Napoleon took down 
the chariot of triumph from the Brandenburg Gate, and sent 
it and the sword of Frederick the Great from Potsdam as 
trophies to Paris. He entered this gate in triumph, and 
passed up the Linden avenue to the king's palace, before 
which his guards kindled their nightly watchfires in the 
pleasure garden. On October 28 Prince Hohenlohe capitu- 
lated at Prenzlau with the remnant of his force, about 10,000 
men and 1800 horses ; and smaller fragments of the fugitive 
army rapidly followed this example. 

§ 22. Bliieher alone would not submit. On hearing of the 
surrender at Prenzlau, he hastened, with his 14,000 men to 
Mecklenburg, hotly pursued by Soult, Murat, and Bernadotte. 
York held the arduous but honorable command of the rear- 
guard. At last the corps took refuge in the ancient city of 
Lubeck, whose fortifications were still defensible. The French 
ariived immediately afterward ; and a furious struggle en- 
sued in the streets, in which Bliieher fought like a tiger. 
York was sorely wounded, and was taken. Bliieher led 
about 8000 men out from the city, but finally surrendered at 
Ratkan, November 7, on honorable terms. " I capitulate," 
he wrote with his signature to the Convention, " because I 
have no bread and no ammunition left." 

§ 23. The humiliated king fled to Ciistrin, where the queen 

Pp 



5V8 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

joined him, they having parted on the morning of the battle 
of Jena. Napoleon had stooped to name her in his bulletins, 
and to denounce her as the instigator of the war. But mis- 
fortune only brought out more prominently the virtues of the 
royal pair. They pursued their flight to Konigsberg. Stein 
saved the principal treasury of the state, and thus secured 
the means of continuing the war. But the misfortune and 
humiliation of Prussia had not yet culminated. General von 
Kleist, it was now learned, surrendered Magdeburg on No- 
vember 8, with nineteen generals, 24,000 men, 6563 horses, 600 
cannon, and an abundance of provisions and ammunition. Von 
Kleist, indeed, was seventy-three years old, and his nineteen 
generals counted up 1300 winters among them. But he sur- 
rendered to Ney, who had but 10,000 men, and no siege ar- 
tillery whatever. Stettin yielded on October 29 to 800 of 
Murat's cavalry. Ciistrin fell November 1, just as easily, and 
the Hanoverian fortresses of Hameln and Nienburg followed. 
The king still hoped to obtain from Napoleon a tolerable 
peace. But his demands had risen to such a pitch that any 
fate was preferable to submission. The king found it hard 
to break entirely away from the old councilors and the old 
views which had caused his disasters ; and he still had hope 
in Russia and the Czar Alexander. 

§ 24. On hearing of the misfortunes of Prussia,. the Em- 
peror of Russia at once sent the king assurances of friend- 
ship and assistance. The Russians actually entered the prov- 
ince of Prussia. But instead of taking up the line of the 
Vistula, as the friends of Prussia desired, they aimed only to 
cover the Russian frontier; and they made worse havoc in 
the country than the French themselves. Napoleon's first 
care was to proclaim from Berlin " the Continental system," 
laying an embargo on British ships and goods in all the 
ports which he could control on the Continent, believing that 
he was thus striking a deadly blow at Great Britain. He 
then marched to Poland ; while the Poles, hoping for the 
restoration of their kingdom, and instigated by him, rose in 
rebellion — first of all in the Prussian districts. He entered 
Posen under a triumphal arch, inscribed "To the deliverer 
of Poland." He advanced, by way of Warsaw, nearly to the 
Russian frontier, where the Russian general Bennigsen, one 



Chap. XXVI. THE CAMPAIGN OF EYLAU. 5l9 

of the murderers of Paul I., attacked him at Pultusk, Decem- 
ber 26, 1806 ; but he retired after an indecisive conflict. 
Winter then compelled the suspension of hostilities. 
■ § 25. One body of six thousand Prussian troops, under 
General Lestocq, joined the Russians ; and when operations 
were renewed, they attacked Napoleon at Eylau, in Prussia, 
February 7 and 8, 1807. The battle was fierce and bloody ; 
the field, a desolate and wintry heath, was the first Napoleon 
ever saw which he could not call his own. He now invited 
Frederick William III., with many promises, to make a sep- 
arate peace and abandon Russia ; but the king refused. It 
was felt that fortune was turning. The city of Thorn was 
held by Lestocq at the close of 1806 in spite of the French 
summons. De Courbiere, commander in Graudentz, though 
seventy-three years of age, held out gallantly against the 
French until the end of the war, Dantzic, too, being now 
well supplied and fortified, began an obstinate defense. Si- 
lesia, the youngest of the Prussian provinces, showed a vig- 
orous patriotism. A series of Silesian fortresses, indeed, were 
surrendered in a panic on the entrance of an army-corps un- 
der Jerome Bonaparte — Glogau, December 3 ; Brieg, and 
then even Breslau (January 5) and Schweidnitz (February 7). 
But Neisse made a heroic defense ; and the little fortresses 
of Kosel and Glatz held out, under extreme difficulties, to the 
end of the war. The people of the province were eager and 
patriotic, and needed but resolute leaders to accomplish 
much. The most eminent example of resistance was given 
by Colberg in Pomerania. The citizens themselves took a 
valiant part in the defense, with a bold mariner, Nettelbeck, 
at their head. He was an old hero, hardened by a thousand 
adventures in all parts of the world, and retaining at seventy 
the spirit of his youth. Here, too, Schill distinguished him- 
self, with his bold hussars, for dash and fire ; while Gneis- 
enau, who was made commander of the fortress, displayed his 
cool invention and self-possessed bravery. Part of the city 
was burned, and the prisoners broke out of the guard-house ; 
but the city held out, through a bombardment of thirty 
hours, until the news of peace arrived. 

§ 26. Alexander himself came to Prussia in the spring of 
1807, still full of zeal. At a review of the troops he embraced 



580 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

Frederick William, and said with tears that neither of them 
should fall alone. A new treaty of alliance was made at 
Bartenstein between Russia and Prussia against Napoleon. 
They were sure of help from England and Sweden, and hoped 
to be joined afterward by Austria. The war was not now 
for conquest, but to restore the order of Europe, destroyed 
by Napoleon, and to free Germany, and especially Prussia, 
from him. Each power pledged itself not to make peace 
without the other, and to carry on the war until Prussia 
should be restored to the possession of all that it had lost. 
But on May 2*5 Dantzic fell, after an attempt by the Russians 
with inadequate forces to relieve it, and after a protracted 
resistance. Napoleon then began the campaign with over- 
whelming forces. At Heilsberg, on June 10, the Russians 
repulsed a hasty attack of the French, and raised high hopes 
among the Prussians. But Bennigsen, the general-in-chief, 
and his associates were already weary of the war "for Prus- 
sia," and steadily yielded ground. A decisive battle was 
fought at Friedland, on the Alle, June 14, and the Russians 
were defeated with great slaughter. All was not lost : Na- 
poleon's rear was threatened, since Austria might yet de- 
clare against him, and Sweden and England approved of a 
project of Bliicher to make a landing in Pomerania. But Na- 
poleon opened negotiations with Alexander, who now forgot 
all his assurances to his friend. On June 25 the two emper- 
ors met in a tent upon a raft in the river Niemen ; and Alex- 
ander proved to be but wax in Napoleon's hands. His mind 
was inflamed with prospects of ruling Eastern Europe, of 
obtaining Finland, of dividing Turkey. Alexander formed 
an alliance with Napoleon, who, with his usual skill in plant- 
ing new enmities wherever he made friends, successfully 
pressed upon him a portion of Prussian Poland, in order to 
prevent him from being reconciled with Frederick Will- 
iam III. 

§ 27. Napoleon and Frederick William also had an inter- 
view at Tilsit. The emperor expected to meet a humble sup- 
pliant ; but he found instead a proud soldier, calm and re- 
served, but unshaken by misfortune. He also saw with him 
the noble and beautiful queen Louise. On July 7 the Peace 
of Tilsit M'as signed with Russia; on July 9, with Prussia. 



Chap. XXVI. THE PEACE OP TILSIT. obi 

Prussia ceded half its territory and half its population. Na- 
poleon took care that the mortification should be keenly felt, 
for he declared that the remaining territory was left to the 
Prussian king only " out of consideration for his ally, the 
ruler of all the Russias ;" though, in fact, his object in pre- 
serving Prussia at all was obviously to erect a barrier between 
Russia and France. All that lay west of the Elbe, with the 
fortress of Magdeburg, was given up, including the Alt- 
mark, the cradle of the Prussian monarchy, all the Rhine 
provinces, Westphalia, and East Friesland, besides the recent 
acquisition of Hanover. On the eastern side, Prussia ceded 
all that had been acquired by the second and third partitions 
of Poland, and Napoleon erected these into the Grand-Duchy 
of Warsaw, under the Elector of Saxony, whom he now made 
king. By the treaty, the Prussian territories were to be 
evacuated by the French upon the payment of all the requi- 
sitions and contributions which the latter had demanded. It 
was not until November 18, 1808, that the French evacuation 
was completed. The amount of money extorted by the 
French from the Prussians during the preceding tw^o years 
was estimated at 564,000,000 francs, or 1109,500,000, 

§ 28. The conqueror resolved to make Saxony a bulwark 
against Prussia; and although it had fought against him, he 
enlarged it at Prussia's expense and made it a kingdom, and 
it joined the Rhine Confederacy. Saxe -Weimar, too, though 
Duke Charles Augustus fought to the end faithfully as a 
Prussian general, was pardoned by Napoleon, and permitted 
still to exist. But the Elector of Hesse, who in his foolish 
ambition had weakly turned from side to side in the war, 
was driven from his country by Napoleon ; and so was the 
ducal house of Brunswick, on the pretense of revenge for 
the manifesto of 1792 (Ch. XXV., § 8). The old duke, wound- 
ed and made prisoner, died November 10, 1806. The fate 
of the Duke of Brunswick excited deep sympathy, especially 
in England, and embittered public opinion against Napoleon. 
It was while the impression made by these events was still 
fresh, and when the upstart emperor was at the height of his 
power over Western and Central Europe, that Sir Walter 
Scott wrote his famous and spirited eulogy of the venerable 
soldier whom the conqueror had insulted : 



582 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

" Oh, hero of that glorious time, 

When, with unrivaled light sublime — 

Though martial Austria, and though all 

The might of Russia, and the Gaul, 

Though banded Europe stood her foes — 

The star of Brandenburg arose, 
■ Thou could'st not live to see her beam 

Forever quenched in Jena's stream. * * * 

Lamented chief! not thine the power 

To save, in that presumptuous hour 

When Prussia hurried to the field, 

And snatched the spear, but left the shield ; 

Valor and skill 'twas thine to try. 

And, tried in vain, 'twas thine to die. * * * 

On thee relenting Heaven bestows 

For honored hfe an honored close ; 

And when revolves, in time's sure change. 

The hour of Germany's revenge. 

When, breathing fury for her sake. 

Some new Arminius shall awake, 

Her champion, ere he strike, shall come 

To whet his sword on Brunswick's tomb. " 

§ 29. Napoleon now brought together the territories of 
the princes of Hesse and Brunswick, whom he had de- 
throned, with most of those ceded by Prussia at Tilsit, form- 
ing what he called the new kingdom of Westphalia, and 
named as king his brother Jerome, who made Cassel his 
capital, and joined the Confederacy of the Rhine. This new 
kingdom, having no foundation either in histqry, in the laws, 
customs, and institutions of the people, or in their desires 
and affections, was a mere imposition forced upon them for a 
time by French bayonets. The king was made miserable on 
both sides — by his subjects who hated him, and by liis own 
subjection to a master. But "Westphalia" served its pur- 
pose of signalizing the overthrow of Prussiaand the complete 
humiliation of Germany. Indeed, this was the culminating 
point of Napoleon's strength and ascendency in Germany 
and in Europe. The reaction began in the popular mind at 
once. The people deeply felt the disgrace of their country, 
And the keen sense of injury and the eager thirst for repara- 
tion spread rapidly, beyond Austria and Prussia, among all 
who bore the German name. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

napoleon's supremacy in GERMANY, 1807-1810. 

§ I . The Germans under French Rule. § 2. The Murder of Palm. Patri- 
otic Sentiments among the People. § 3. Congress of Erfurt. § 4. Condi- 
tion of Prussia. § 5. Character of Stein. § 6. His Administration of the 
Finances. § 7. Stein Removed and Banished. § 8. Scharnhorst. § 9. 
His Reforms as Minister of War. § 10. Stein's Successors. § 11. The 
Royal Family. § 12. The Tugend-Bund. § 13. Bliicher ; his Hatred of 
Napoleon. § 14. Neithardt of Gneisenau. § 15. General York. § 16. 
Von Billow. § 17. The Philosopher Fichte. § 18. The University of 
Berlin Founded. § I'J. Science and Literature in the Service of Patriotism. 
§ 20. Reform in Austria. Ministry of Stadion. § 21. Effect in Germany 
of Napoleon's Unsuccessful War in Spain. § 22. Austria Aroused against 
France. § 23. Brilliant Campaign of Napoleon in Bavaria, April, 1809. 
§ 24. He is Defeated at Aspen and Esslingen. § 2.'). Battle of Aspern and 
Peace of Schonbrunn. § 26. Napoleon's Marriage with Maria Louisa of 
Austria. 

§ 1. Napoleon was now master of Germany, All the Ger- 
man territories, except Austria and Prussia, were included 
in the Rhine League, and were under his protection and con- 
trol. Nor was his sovereignty felt as a heavy burden by 
most of the people. The French supremacy had many friends 
among the Germans. Many were dazzled by the personal 
genius and power of the emperor. In some directions the 
masses of the people really gained bj'' his ascendency. Thus 
in Westphalia, the new kingdom which Napoleon created 
out of the western provinces of Prussia, with Hesse, Bruns- 
wick, and Hanover, and in whicli he established (November 
15, 1807) his brother Jerome as king, the Code Napoleon, 
with its superior adjustment of rights, was introduced. 
Juries were established, and the peasants were relieved of 
distraints and personal exactions. In Bavaria, under the 
well-meaning king Max Joseph, his minister Montgelas 
strove, with an unscrupulous zeal worthy of Joseph II., to 
consolidate into one state the manifold and varied fragments 
of the kingdom. On the whole, amid much that was arbi- 
trary, the government was really improved, especiallj^ by 



584 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

the removal of the Jesuits from power. In Wirteraberg the 
king, Fi-ederick I., was severe and arbitrary. Baden was still 
ruled by Charles Frederick, an admirable prince, who did his 
best for the people of his increased territory, as he had done 
for those of his little margraviate. But he found Napoleon's 
exactions oppressive, and often wished for his former modest 
domain with his former independence. The increasing taxa- 
tion for Napoleon's benefit, the restriction of trade by his 
decrees, and the ever-extending conscription for military 
service, made their chains very heavy upon the states of the 
Rhine Confederacy. Their armies, indeed, shared the French 
enthusiasm for the emperor. In their former relations to the 
empire the armies of the small states had been the mockery 
of all nations, and Napoleon led them to victory, and filled 
them with soldierly pride. It was now plain that none of the 
Germans had lost their ancient warlike qualities, but it had 
been left for foreigners to dig out this buried treasure. The 
troops of the Rhine League often excelled the French them- 
selves in their zeal and ferocity against the North Germans. 
On the whole, the condition of the people of Germany during 
Napoleon's supremacy was not one of oppression nor peculiar 
suffering. 

§ 2. But tolerable comfort is not freedom. In 1806 there 
was a cry of horror in Germany. A bookseller of Nurem- 
berg, named John Philip Palm, a peaceable man, who had 
published a pamphlet entitled "Germany in its deep humil- 
iation," was seized by French policemen, and, at Napoleon's 
express order, was tried by a court-martial and shot at 
Braunau (August 26, 1806). This act has been much dis- 
cussed, but no explanation of it has ever been given which 
can reverse the judgment passed upon it at the time by En- 
gland and Germany as a wanton muider. Together with the 
conduct of the French police and spies, and of German trai- 
tors in French pay, it showed that the slavery of the French 
under Napoleon was double slavery among the Germans. 
Some of the princes of the Rhine League were but too 
prompt to learn from their master his unscrupulous methods 
of attaining his purposes. The vicious court of Jerome, in 
Cassel, was a serious disgrace' to Germany. Wantonness 
there threw off its mask of shame. Jerome, too, was thor- 



Chap. XXVII. NAPOLEON IN ALLIANCE WITH RUSSIA. 585 

oughly instructed by Napoleon that his first duty was to 
France and to the emperor. First of all, the states of the 
Rhine League, indeed, were required to render service with 
their arms -bearing men to the conqueror. When in 1808 
Napoleon began in the Spanish peninsula the war which final- 
ly proved so destructive to him, two thirds of the soldiers 
led by him were Germans. But there were still some pa- 
triots in Germany, outside of Prussia and Austria, In West- 
phalia, the people of Brunswick still remembered with aflfec- 
tion the kindly government of their late duke, Charles Will- 
iam Ferdinand, who had been so outraged; and even the 
Hessians still clung to the family of Philip the Magnanimous, 
in spite of the degeneracy of his descendants. In East Fries- 
land, too, the people remained attached to Prussia. The same 
was true of Anspach and Baireuth ; nor did the people of 
{"'ranconia and Suabia at once take kindly to their new Na- 
poleonic masters. Throughout these sections the spirit of 
patriotism began to glow, and the patriots to cherish a se- 
cret understanding among themselves. It often seemed that 
nothing was needed but an impulse from without to produce 
a general outbreak against foreign rule. 

§ 3. But there was no immediate change. From the time 
of the alliance of Napoleon and Alexander, all Europe, ex- 
cept Great Britain, seemed to be subject to these two great 
despotisms of the £ast and the West. The two emperors, and 
the German princes of the Rhine League, met at Erfurt, in 
Germany, in September and October, 1808, with much pomp 
and display, to renew the alliance formed at Tilsit. Here 
Russia adopted Napoleon's "Continental system," and recog- 
nized his brothers as kings of Westphalia, Holland, and Spain, 
while Napoleon agreed to make no resistance to the aggran- 
dizement of Russia, either in Scandinavia or in the Turkish 
provinces. The two powers strove in vain to make peace 
with England. During the summer of 1808, Napoleon de- 
throned the Bourbons in Spain, and made his brother Joseph 
king. He deprived the pope of his temporal sovereignty; 
drove the royal family from Naples, erected there a mon- 
archy for Murat, and established his step-son, Eugene Beau- 
harnais, as king of Northern Italy. In Holland, his biother 
Louis was king ; in Germany, the Rhine Confederacy was his 



586 HISTOKY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

servant Denmark was closely allied with him, and even 
Sweden, after King Gustavus IV. was dethroned (March 13, 
1809), was ready to join him at once. Thus all Western Eu- 
rope was his own. On the other hand, Alexander wrested 
Finland from Sweden, and was on the point of carrying out 
his plans against the Turks. England, indeed, still ruled the 
seas without a rival, and went steadily forward in the con- 
quest of foreign colonies, and in the obstinate prosecution of 
the war against Napoleon. But Austria and Prussia seemed 
to be entirely crushed between the two great empires. Such 
was the situation at the beginning of the year 1809. 

§ 4. The pressure of calamity began to awaken the force 
of the German character. Prussia had fallen lowest of all, 
and rose again first, and in greatest vigor. It was not shame 
alone that the day of Jena and Auerstadt brought on Prus- 
sia; but it suffered more than any other land by contribu- 
tions, exactions, and plunder. The Prussians had a recent 
and glorious history of their own, and felt the humiliation 
keenly. The two years of calamity, 1806 and 1807, exposed 
their previous errors, and King Frederick William III. now 
had both the knowledge and the will to effect a reform. In 
the earlier days of trouble he had been reluctant to intrust 
affairs to the man whom all patriotic voices selected as the 
only one who could save the state. But when all seemed 
lost by the sad treaties at Tilsit, Stein was at last made chief 
minister. 

§ 5. Henry Frederick Charles, Baron Stein, belonged to a 
noble family of Rhenish Franconia, which had lived imme- 
morially in its castle of Stein, at Nassau, on the Lahn. He 
was born there in IVSY. Full of family and personal pride, 
and regarding himself as equal in independence to a prince, 
he was loath to enter upon any service at court; but finally 
chose the court of Prussia, though his ancestors had preferred 
the Austrian service, or that of one of the spiritual lords. He 
took an active part in the negotiations for a league of the 
North German princes, and was then appointed a supervisor 
in the Mark, and afterward employed in the work of incorpo- 
rating Avith Prussia the Episcopal territories secularized after 
the Peace of Luneville. Finally, he was called into the Gen- 
neral Directory as minister of finance. Stein was a valiant 



Chap. XXVII. FRENCH EXACTIONS FROM PRUSSIA. 58V 

patriot and a Christian, and to, him Napoleon seemed the 
very embodiment of evil. Frederick William III. long felt 
no personal inclination to Stein. Before the calamity of 
Jena, the king rejected his Avarnings, and even dismissed 
him in displeasure after it. But he was at length forced to 
accept him as a last resort ; and then the king soon learned 
to honor and trust him, and to accept his great plans without 
reserve, in spite of the party that clung to the old system 
and strove to embarrass and discredit Stein's reforms. The 
minister was zealous in his work from the first, 

§ 6. The heavily burdened state lacked resources and mon- 
ey. The French were still 200,000 strong in Prussia, and it 
was almost exhausted by their contributions, requisitions, 
quarterings, and the like. But Napoleon had not yet even 
fixed the sum upon payment of which he would withdraw 
his troops, but seemed bent in keeping the kingdom in sub- 
jection to him. Prince William, the king's younger brother, 
husband of the Princess Marianne of Homburg, went to Paris 
to obtain from Napoleon some relaxation of his severity; 
but in vain. The prince offered himself as a hostage, until 
all the emperor's demands should be met ; but Napoleon re- 
jected the proposition as not practical. At Erfurt, he fixed 
his demand at 120,000,000 francs; but he exacted in all from 
Prussia, according to his own account, a thousand millions 
of francs. Stein gave all the assistance he could by economy, 
by the use of paper money, by laws, and by the sale of the 
royal domains. But he saw that there could be no thorough 
rescue of the state but by a moral renewal of the people. He 
steadily aimed at this, and began to rebuild the state from 
its foundation. In the ancient provinces the peasants were 
still the hereditary subjects of their landlords. They were 
now freed from this bondage, and it was provided that a 
number of customary exactions which oppressed them should 
be gradually removed. From this time the peasant was no 
longer an appendage to the land he cultivated, but could 
choose his own employment, and could look forward to the 
possession one day of a free piece of land for himself. The 
city people, too, were much burdened by guilds, by police 
regulations, and by oflicers, mostly invalid soldiers or super- 
annuated civil servants, imposed on them by the go\ernnient. 



588 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

By the new laws of city government, November 19, 1808, 
Stein restored to these communities their self-control and 
freedom. The delegates were chosen from the citizens them- 
selves, the magistrates from the delegates. The burgomaster 
alone was named by the government, out of three candidates 
proposed by the city. The tyranny of the guilds gave way 
before the freedom of the trades; and in the open country free 
markets were allowed, and the 'exclusive privileges of par- 
ticular mills were abolished. The nobility seemed to be the 
losers, as their distinctive privileges disapi^eared. Every man 
had free access to the calling for which he was adapted ; any 
tradesman might buy a baronial estate, any nobleman might 
carry on trade. Stein was himself a nobleman, and devoted 
to his order; but he sought its dignity in moral and patriotic 
bearing, not in privileges and exemptions. The government 
was simplified, the council of state taking the place of the cab- 
inet. But, above all. Stein aimed to secure self-government to 
communities, and a share in the affairs of the state to the peo- 
ple. The country communities obtained more independence 
than before. The provincial estates, which were still maintain- 
ed in some places, were to be reformed, and all considerable 
proprietors of land were to be represented in them. They 
would consider and determine upon the questions of internal 
administration in each province. The great work was to be 
completed by the States- General, representing the whole 
kingdom, and thus Prussia would become a constitutional 
monarchy. 

§ 7. This reconstitution of Prussia was magnificently plan- 
ned, and really accomplished more for that kingdom than 
France gained by the Pevolution. Stein's administration 
was too short for his project to be carried out entirely, and 
its crowning feature, the States-General, failed of establish- 
ment. Much was left by him to his successor, but he gave 
the great impulse to the work. Stein looked also beyond 
Prussia, and sought the emancipation of all Germany. He 
cultivated new relations with Austria, and with many patri- 
otic and influential men in the rest of Germany. The grad- 
ual growth of a general understanding among such men was 
the result ; and this spread rapidly over all Northern Ger- 
many as soon as Napoleon's first misfortunes in Spain sug- 



Chap. XXVII. STEIN AND SCHARNHORST. 589 

gested the hope of throwing off the yoke. A letter from 
Stein to a prince of the Wittgenstein house was intercepted 
at Spandau by the French police, and sent to Paris, where 
Napoleon had it printed in the Paris Motiiteur, with bitter 
comments, as a proof of the hostile disposition of Prussia, 
and of a wide-spread conspiracy against the empire. Stein 
thought it was his duty, in order not to bring the vengeance 
of Napoleon upon the king, to resign his office ; and Frederick 
William reluctantly let him go, November 24, 1808. Early 
in January following, an "imperial decree" of Napoleon, dated 
at his "imperial palace in Madrid, December 16," was promul- 
gated throughout Germany, declaring that " a man named 
Stein" was engaged in fomenting disorder among the Ger- 
mans, denouncing him as an enemy of France and of the 
Rhine League, confiscating all his possessions in France and 
in the states of the league, and calling on the troops of these 
countries and of their allies to arrest him wherever found. 
The enemies of Stein did not doubt that Prussia would obey 
the command of Napoleon, and rejoiced in the prospect of 
his surrender to France. But the French embassador at Ber- 
lin, General St. Marsan, warned Stein of his danger, and he 
fled by night to Austria. There he remained until the great 
Russian Avar of 1812 opened to him a new field of activity in 
the service of the Czar Alexander. It was little more than a 
year that he had conducted the government of Prussia, but 
it had been long enough to fill the state with new life. His 
removal was a misfortune to Germany, which lost in him the 
organizing centre of all the forces now working for a recovery 
of national strength. 

§ 8. Gerard David Scharnhorst was to the army what Stein 
•was to the state. He was a peasant's son, born November 
12, 1755, at Bordenau, in Hanover. He was inclined to a mil- 
itary career, and Count William of Lippe-Schaumburg, a sol- 
dier of the school of the Great Frederick, took him into his 
military institute at Wilhelmstein. At an early age he dis- 
tinguished himself in the Hanoverian army, especially in 1794 
in the Netherlands, and his military writings also attracted 
attention ; so that he was invited to the military academy at 
Berlin as a teacher, and at once entered the Prussian army 
as an officer. He was a calm, thoughtful, and veiy modest 



590 HISTORY OF GEHMANY. Book V. 

man, and from the first enjoyed the confidence of the king, 
who gradually promoted him to be a general, and raised him 
to nobility. He gained great credit in the campaigns of 

1806 and 1807, and displayed alike in good and bad fortune 
both a cool, sound judgment and an enthusiastic devotion to 
all that is great and good. He was envied and hated, too, 
but steadily and vigorously pursued his own straightforward 
course. 

§ 9. In 1807 King Frederick William HI. reorganized his 
army. A tribunal of honor was established, before which 
every ofiicer who had taken part in any of the countless 
capitulations was required to appear and justify himself. 
Those who failed to do this completely were dismissed, the 
army having need now of fewer ofiicers, since Napoleon de- 
creed that it should number no more than 42,000 men. In 

1807 Scharnhorst was appointed minister of war, with the 
special work of reorganizing this army in view. The system 
of hiring mercenaries was abandoned, and the troops were 
made up exclusively of natives of Prussia. They were treat- 
ed humanely and honorably; their arms were simple and 
manageable, and their drill was made a real preparation for 
war. Scharnhorst secured a military strength three or four 
times as great as Napoleon's limit, by enlisting his 42,000 
men for a short time, and then renewing them, so that the 
former army became reserve troops, which could be recalled 
to their standards at any moment. Thus the foundation of 
the Prussian army was laid in the universal liability to mili- 
tary service, and in the constitution of the Landwehr, or train- 
ed militia, a system which counteracted the efiects of luxury 
and efieminacy among the people, and which, by the wonder- 
ful results it produced, compelled all Europe to imitate Prus- 
sia, and marked a new epoch in warfare. A new army arose, 
in which, as in the state, merit and services, not birth, were 
the only grounds of promotion. These silent preparations 
escaped the notice of Napoleon, or else he despised them. 
Scharnhorst remained in office, the nearest and noblest sup- 
port of the king. 

§ 10. Stein was succeeded as minister of finance for a 
short time by the irresolute Altenstein, and then by Harden- 
berg, a man inferior to Stein in greatness of mind and char- 



Chap. XXVII. REVIVAL OF PATRIOTISM. 59I 

acter, but superior to him in dexterity, and therefore in 
ability to manage the state during the stormy days at hand. 
He brought to completion much in the internal administra- 
tion which Stein had begun ; and was assisted by a number 
of illustrious spirits, such as Schon, Niebuhr, Yinke, and 
William von Humboldt, who sustained and carried out Stein's 
policy. 

§ 11. These days of misfortune were days of trial and of 
purification to the popular mind. Prussia, in its deep hu- 
miliation, became the source first of an intellectual and then 
of a military revival in Germany. It was now that the old 
Prussian nature, with its stiff conservatism, became completely 
united in sympathy with Germany at large. The two great 
leaders in the revival of Prussia, Stein and Scharnhorst, were 
not natives of Prussia ; but, in their spirit, Prussia now went 
on to draw to itself the forces of all Germany. Nowhere 
were the disgrace and burden of foreign rule so deeply felt 
as here. The people grew serious and earnest again, and 
their religious faith and feelings revived. The royal family 
set them an example which exercised a wide influence. For 
two years they lived a simple life, almost as private citizens, 
at Konigsberg. They then returned to the capital two days 
before Christmas, 1809, in deep afiliction. Queen Louise 
was already declining. On July 19, 1810, she died at Jier 
early home in Mecklenburg, full of hope for her unfortunate 
country. 

§ 12. The renewal of a serious and religious spirit led to 
the foundation in Konigsberg, then the residence of the royal 
family of Prussia, of the Tugendbund, or "League of virtue," 
which included many excellent men. Its avowed purpose 
was the awakening of the intellectual and moral strength of 
the German people, especially in Prussia ; but it was impos- 
sible to conceal the fact that its peculiar significance at this 
time lay in the ultimate aim of delivering Germany from the 
ascendency of Napoleon. The court quietly gave it counte- 
nance, wisely hoping to harden and discipline the people, and 
to raise up a host of true heroes against the emergencies of 
the future. But the power and influence of this league have 
been exaggerated by French writers. It included hardly any 
names of great prominence, and on the last day of the year 



592 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

1810 the king, at the bidding of Napoleon, formally pro- 
claimed its dissolution. 

§ 13. We have space but to name the most eminent leaders 
of the great popular movement ; aiTd first of all the military- 
men. Among the foremost of these was Gebhard Lebrecht 
von Bliicher (born 1742), wlio distinguished himself as the 
last general to yield in the campaign of Jena. He was born 
in Mecklenburg, and served in the Swedish army in the 
Seven-Years' War. Being made prisoner by the Prussian 
black hussars, he gladly changed his uniform, and from that 
time was a zealous Prussian soldier. While he was employed 
as an officer in Poland, he brought on himself the anger of 
the king by his rashness; a number of murders had been per- 
petrated among the soldiers of his battalion, and he believed 
a certain priest to be the instigator of them. Though he 
could not prove this, he brought the priest to an open grave, 
and there had him fired at with blank cartridges. Neglected 
in promotions, he talked bitterly, and Frederick II. roughly 
turned him away. For a considerable time he cultivated 
his lands, and lived in debt, taking his pleasure in expensive 
horses. But his passion for the army could not be controlled. 
His bold riding attracted the notice of King Frederick Will- 
iam II., when the noblemen of that district were attending 
him. as an escort, and he was invited again to enter the hus- 
sars. As a colonel of horse in the wars of the French Revo- 
lution, he won the respect of friend and foe. The French 
soldiers called him " the red king." At Auerstadt, as general 
of cavalry, he endeavored by a desperate charge to save the 
lost fortunes of the day; and he led his brave band to Rat- 
kau, near Lubeck, where they were at last compelled to sur- 
render. When the army was renewed, he was made general 
in command in Pomerania. Here he was seized with that 
passion of pain at the shame of Prussia which at times took 
away his reason ; so that he would dash at the flies on the 
wall with his drawn SAvord, ci-ying "Napoleon." His whole 
soul was absorbed in hatred of the emperor. His form was 
commanding and noble, his speech eloquent and full of fire. 
He was the idol of the soldiers, who called him "Marshal 
Forwards." 

§ 14. Augustus William Anton Neithardt, of Gneisenau, is 



Chap. XXVII. GNEISENAU AND YORK. 593 

always named with Bliicher. He was born at Schilda in the 
midst of the Seven-Years' War, and a few days before the 
battle at Torgau. His father was a soldier in the imperial 
army, and his early yeai"s were spent under the oppressive 
guardianship of strangers, until his grandfather took him to- 
Wiirzburg. Here and at the University of Erfurt he was 
carefully educated. But he, too, was fond of military life; 
and when his means of prosecuting his studies failed, he en- 
tered the service, first of Austria, and then of Anspach-Bai- 
reuth. With a regiment of Anspach troops he went to 
America, but fought no battle. On his return he entered 
the Prussian army. Thus he lived a hard and narrow life, 
until the years of misfortune brought out his abilities. With 
Schill and Nettelbeck he acquired great honor in defending 
Colberg, and was thenceforth regarded as one of the pillars 
of the Prussian army. In his ability to plan campaigns and 
battles, he was superior to Bliicher, who was rather the man 
of fiery dash and of cunning cavalry exploits; and thus the 
two men admirably supplemented each other. He claims 
remembrance as much for his nobility of mind, his strong and 
simple will, and the true modesty that blushed at its own 
praise, as for his military genius. 

§ 15. Hans David Lewis of York (born 1762) w^as apart 
from the men we have described, and often sharply opposed 
or even hostile to them. He was the son of an officer in the 
Seven-Years' War, was always meant for a soldier, and served 
as a lieutenant under " Old Fritz." He too Avas led into a 
difficulty which ofl^ended the king, was rudely cashiered at 
the age of twenty, and want compelled him to enter the serv- 
ice of Holland. He fought at the naval battle at the Dog- 
gersbank, and afterward passed some years of adventure at 
Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope. He returned, and re- 
entered the Prussian army under Frederick AYilliam H., 
where he soon became colonel of the single light infantry 
regiment in the service, and trained them with great severity 
in the light musketry practice in which the French were so 
eminent. He was not in the battle at Jena ; but kept his 
regiment together, and in a spirited and well-conducted affair 
at Altenzaun protected Bliieher's passage of the Elbe. He 
was a man of iron character, proud, sharp, sudden, and reso- 

Qq 



594 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

lute, and was more feared tliaii loved. His discipline was 
still that of Frederick the Great, without the degeneracy of 
later times. In the reorganization of the army, Bliicher 
pointed him out as one of the ablest officers. He was made 
general, and then governor-general of the province of Prussia. 

§ 16. Frederick William von Biilow was placed at Bliicher's 
side as general in Poraerania, when the latter was sick. He 
was a member of an ancient and numerous family, of marked 
features of character. He had been the military instructor 
of Prince Louis Ferdinand ; and had displayed great qualities 
in the battles around Dantzic, though without succeeding in 
the campaign. But his calm, cheerful strength of mind and 
self-possessed energy already distinguished the future com- 
mander-in-chief A fine band of younger officers, such as 
Grolman, Boyen, and Clausewitz, supported these tried com- 
manders; and afterward became ornaments of Prussian mili- 
tary history. . 

§ 17. There were men of learning alid science, too, who 
did honor to this period of the Prussian annals. In the fore- 
most rank of these was John Gottliel> Fichte. He was the 
son of a weaver at Rammenau, in Saxon Lausitz, and was 
born in 1762. A nobleman observed that the boy could ac- 
curately report a sermon he had once heard, and sent him to 
the " Schulpforte " gymnasium or academy. His character 
was developed and strengthened during his early years by 
extreme penury, which did not crush his temper, but hard- 
ened it. He went to Konigsberg to hear the great phi- 
losopher Kant ; and then his own fame began ; while his 
fortune was founded in Switzerland, where he married a 
daughter of Klopstock's sister. He was invited to Jena, 
then the capital of German intellectual life, where he stimu- 
lated the minds of the students, by his personal influence, to 
a degree of activity and zeal before unknown. But his 
philosophical views assumed such a form as to be thought 
hostile to Christianity. A complaint of the Saxon government 
against him led to an investigation and a controversy, which, 
through Fichte's pride, resulted in a breach, in spite of the 
strong desire of Charles Augustus and his minister Goethe to 
retain him. He went to Berlin, was welcomed by Frederick 
William HI., and delivered a course of lectui-es, before the 



Chap. XXVII. THE UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN. 595 

university was founded, which was eagerly listened to by the 
most eminent men of that capital. After the battle of Jena 
he left Berlin, and only returned when peace was concluded. 
A French garrison still held the city. But while paid spies 
listened to his lectures, and while the French drums were 
heard in the Linden avenue without, he delivered in the 
academy his "Words to the German nation" before a com- 
pany of select scholars, who were to him, he said, the repre- 
sentatives of the whole German people. He showed how the 
German people alone had preserved the embers of an unsel- 
fish and free intellectual life, and if these were lost, there 
was no hope for the world. Thus he summoned their op- 
pressed minds to awaken to the true calling of Germany. 
Napoleon did not disturb him. The emperor des2:)ised the 
" Ideologues," and could not suspect how potent the influence 
of ideas is on the German mind. 

§ 18. Frederick William III. now resolved, in spite of the 
oppression of the times, to found the University of Berlin, in 
order to unite, as far as possible, the forces of German scholar- 
ship. With a noble generosity the king appropriated ample 
means for the institution, assigned to it one of the finest 
palaces in Berlin, that of Prince Henry, and its career began 
in 1810. Fichte was its first rector, for ten terms. Schlei- 
ermacher stood by his side. He was born in 1768, and edu- 
cated in the academy of the Herrnhuters at Niesky, where 
he received deeply pious impressions, which remained unim- 
paired, even when he in after- days gave himself up for a 
while to the most skeptical speculations in theology. He 
was for a time professor in Halle, but now removed to Ber- 
lin, and became one of the principal ornaments of the new 
university. Men of eminent learning and ability were gather- 
ed there from all parts of Germany, among them the philolo- 
gists Wolf, Buttniann, and Bockh, the medical teacher Plufe- 
land, and many others, almost all of them zealous, too, for the 
emancipation of the country. 

§ 19. Science, art, and poetry now assumed a patriotic 
character. The brothers Jacob and William Grimm drew 
attention to the study of German antiquities, and brought to 
light stores of legends and popular stories, of laws and cus- 
toms, and of the religion and language of the earlv Germans. 



596 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

The brothers Boisseree pointed out the real beauty and mag- 
nificence of the architecture of the Middle Ages, and of its 
great churches, such as the cathedrals at Cologne and Stras- 
burg. Alexander von Humboldt made a European repu- 
tation by his travels, while his brother William, Schiller's 
friend, an enthusiast for philosophy and history, served Prus- 
sia also as a statesman, in harmony with Stein. Some of the 
great poets had passed away ; the people's chief favorite, 
Schiller, died May 9, 1805. Goethe now stood without rivalry 
or approach, earning ever new laurels, and esteemed even by 
Napoleon; but he was not in sympathy with the sufferings 
or the hopes of the German people. A younger generation 
was growing up, in which lofty poetic insight and taste were 
associated w^ith patriotic feeling. These were called the " ro- 
mantic poets :" a class not without something morbid in 
their nature, but distinguished for their insight into ancient 
German art, and for their enthusiasm for the Middle Ages 
of German culture and splendor. Among them Avere the 
brothers Schlegel, Lewis Tieck, and Novalis (Hardenberg) ; 
as well as Von Kleist, Brentano, and Von Arnim. In other 
parts of Germany, too, there was fresh poetic vigor. In 
1811, Uhland, then twenty years of age, published the " Min- 
strel's Curse," in which the rich and bloody king who is the 
curse of minstrelsy represents Napoleon. 

§ 20. While Prussia was thus agitated with new energy in 
literary productiveness and patriotic feeling, Austria did not 
hold aloof from the movement, but promised really to be the 
centre of the wishes and hopes of German patriots. It was 
no longer the Austria of Thugut and Cobenzl. The great 
revival of the nation reached both the people and the gov- 
ernment. Count Philip Stadion (born 1763), of a Suabian 
knightly house, became to the Austrian states what Stein was 
to Prussia. He was called to the ministry soon after the 
Peace of Presburg. A thorough German in his spirit, he 
soon saw that a successful war of emancipation could only be 
fought by the entire nation. He removed the shackles which, 
ever since the death of Joseph II., had burdened the mental 
and moral powers of the people ; he promoted education, freed 
the press, and encouraged patriotic thought and feeling. The 
peasantry were relieved of burdens, and citizens were allow- 



Chap. XX VII. THE PENINSULAR WAR. 597 

ed free scope for their capacities and talents. The state rose 
rapidly, as in the days of Maria Theresa and Joseph. Stadi- 
on's encouragement of freedom distressed the emperor, but 
his ruling passion was still hatred of Napoleon. Austria was 
not oppressed and humiliated by him as Prussia was, and had 
not, like Prussia, a struggle for life or death to meet ; but its 
honor and ancient power were at stake, and neither the peo- 
ple nor the court of Vienna could forget the lost dignity of 
the German Empire. The army, too, was reformed. After 
1806, the Archduke Charles, the well-tried general of Austria, 
was its commander-in-chief Under him, the army was re- 
newed in its officers, its arms, and its spirit. Just as Scharn- 
horst in Prussia armed the people as well as the army, so in 
Austria a militia was organized, by summoning which the 
ai-my might be raised to 500,000 men. In this respect, too, 
the government trusted the people, and was not disappointed. 

§ 21. In 1808 the tidings of the great war waged by the 
people of Spain against Napoleon, with constantly increasing 
success, encouraged all Germany, It was evident now where 
the giant who overshadowed Europe was vulnerable, "Why 
may we not esteem ourselves as highly as the Spaniards?" 
wrote Bliicher to a friend ; and all patriotic Germans asked 
themselves the same question. Napoleon was compelled to 
withdraw his army from Prussia to Spain, so that both Aus- 
tria and Prussia breathed more freely. His forged bulletins 
of victory and his empty displays at Erfurt alike failed to 
deceive longer. But it was a misfortune that just at this 
time came the fall of Stein, in whom mainly rested the hope 
of united action by Prussia and Austria, and whose avowed 
aim Avas "the emancipation of Germany by German strength," 
With him a great hope disaj^peared. Napoleon again won 
Alexander's friendship, as at Tilsit, and felt secure in his 
place, so that he went in person to Spain to put an end to the 
wearisome war. 

§ 22. By the capture of Madrid, March, 1808, Napoleon 
thought that the subjugation of Spain was accomplished ; 
and at once undertook to punish Austria for the military 
preparations which it had been making for more than a year. 
He began by diligently provoking it to war. But the changed 
character of Austria now showed itself The people were 



598 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

enthusiastic iu their patriotism ; volunteers of all classes 
flocked to the standards, and free gifts were brought in 
abundance to supply and equip the soldiers. Such men as 
Gentz and Frederick Schlegel were at the head-quarters of 
the archduke, eager to promote the cause of freedom by their 
writings and poetry, to summon all Germany to enlist in the 
cause, and to excite and maintain the popular enthusiasm. 
A universal movement of Germany was hoped for, but es- 
pecially the aid of Prussia. But Stein's resolution was want- 
ing there, nor indeed was Prussia able to undertake any 
thing without aid from Russia, while Alexander urgently ad- 
vised the king to remain at peace. But there, as every where 
in Germany, the beginnings of the strife were watched with 
feverish anxiety among the usually peaceful people. The 
fierce old German wrath began to burn against their arro- 
gant oppressors. 

§ 23. The Austrian government showed itself eager enough 
to take advantage of the zealous patriotism of the people, 
and of the embarrassments of Napoleon in Spain. On Feb- 
ruary 28, 1809, the French embassador at Vienna, Andreossy, 
received his passports, and on April 15 Austria declared war 
against France. But Napoleon, as usual, was more nearly 
ready for war than his adversaries. Without the Rhine 
League, indeed, he would have found the swiftness of action de- 
manded in this war impossible. It was German forces that he 
used against Germans. The Archduke Charles ought to have 
fallen at once with his well-provided Austrian army on the 
states of the league — Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Baden — taken pos- 
session of their stores and resources, and met the enemy on the 
Rhine. But he hesitated, proposed at first to occupy a strong 
position in Bohemia, but at length advanced slowly across 
the frontier of Bavaria. As soon as the conflict seemed in- 
evitable. Napoleon hastened with his usual speed from Spain 
into Germany, collected his forces from France, but especially 
from the states of the Rhine, and marched rapidly with them 
down the Danube to meet the Austrians. His military abil- 
ities were magnificently displayed in the battles in the neigh- 
borhood of Regensburg (Ratisbon). He was victorious at 
Pfaftenhofen, April 19, 1809, at Abensberg, on April 20, at 
Landshut, on the 21st, and on the 23d in tlie great and decisive 



Chap. XXVII. ASPERN AND WAGRAM. 599 

battle of Eckmiihl. In these five days of victory, according 
to Napoleon's bulletin of April 24, his army captured 400 
cannon, 40 standards, 3000 wagons, and 50,000 prisoners. 
During this brief and splendid campaign, Napoleon's military 
conduct was not merely faultless, but uniformly brilliant ; 
and in after-days he often spoke of these actions fondly as 
the greatest achievements of his life. The army of the Aus- 
trians, however, was badly led, and it now retreated, almost 
in ruins, to Moravia. Napoleon marched down the right 
bank of the Danube, and entered Vienna May 12.. 

§ 24. But the war was not ended. The Tyrol, on Napole- 
on's right flank, had thrown off his yoke. An Austrian army, 
under the Archduke John, who had hitherto been successful, 
and had defeated Eugene Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy, at 
Sacile (April 16), now drew near. The archduke occupied 
the north bank of the Danube, opposite Vienna, with an army 
almost equal to that of Napoleon. The emperor was in haste 
to fight it, and sought to cross the river at the island of Lo- 
bau, below Vienna. But at Aspern and Esslingen (May 21 
and 22) he met an enemy such as he had not expected to 
find. The Austrian troops, led to the battle by their heroic 
general in person, marched with songs and shouts. The 
French attempted to cross on two bridges, and spread them- 
selves'in a fan-liko form on the north side; but they met in 
every direction the Austrian columns, ready for action. Mean- 
while the Austrians sent huge trunks of trees and fire-boats 
down the river, and destroyed the draw-bridges. The bloody 
day ended with the retreat of Napoleon to the island of Lo- 
bau, with an exhausted army, the first complete defeat he 
ever experienced. In spite of the watchful French police, 
the song of triumph over this battle spread through all Ger- 
many. 

§ 25. Napoleon was compelled to wait a month before he 
could venture to break forth. On July 5, having been joined 
by Prince Eugene, he marched with 150,000 men to Wagram, 
a little below the battle-field of Aspern. After a contest of 
unusual fierceness and fatality, which lasted two days, he won 
a victory. The Archduke John, while on his way from Hun- 
gary, had been defeated at Raab by Eugene, and driven 
across the Danube (June 14), so that he arrived too late to 



600 HISTOllY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

take part in the battle. The Austrians retreated toward 
Moravia. The Archduke Charles, whose heart was but half 
in the war, began to negotiate, and the armistice of Znaini 
was concluded (July 12) for four weeks, and was afterward 
prolonged. There was still no necessity for submission. 
Austria had large resources left, and Prussia now took the 
first steps toward an alliance with Austria. But the allies, 
who were expected to hasten into the war, delayed. Even 
England postponed the promised expedition to North Ger- 
many, which was to support the popular movement there, 
and encourage Prussia, and, instead of this, made an unsuc- 
cessful attempt upon the Netherlands, in hope of acquiring 
Antwerp. Thus the peace i^arty obtained the control in Vien- 
na, and at length the Emperor Francis, terrified at Napoleon's 
threat to depose him, signed the Peace of Vienna, or Schon- 
brunn, October 14, 1809. By this treaty Austria gave up 
its Adriatic sea-coast entirely ; Istria, Dalmatia, Friaul, and 
part of Carinthia were ceded directly to the French Empire. 
Western Galicia was added to the Duchy of Warsaw, East- 
ern Galicia to Russia. For the Emperor Alexander, who 
might have prevented the whole war, and whose mere con- 
sent would have enabled Prussia to join Austria against Na- 
poleon, had permitted himself to be led into an alliance with 
Napoleon by the prospect of conquests in Turkey ; and he 
now received his part of the spoils of Austria. 

§ 25. After this war the Emperor of Austria seemed to 
have lost all his wish to fight against France. Stadion with- 
drew from office, and was succeeded by the dexterous Met- 
ternich. Like the princes of the Rhine League, the Austrians 
thought their interests lay in friendship with France. Na- 
])oleon had long cherished the wish to connect himself with 
some ancient European dynasty. Soon after the treaty was 
signed, he began to seek the hand of the emperor's daughter, 
Maria Louisa. On December 14, 1809, he divorced his first 
wife, Josephine, who had borne him no children. In Febru- 
ary, 1810, came the betrothal, and on April 2 the marriage 
with Maria Louisa. This event was regarded by European 
statesmen in general as a guarantee for peace on the Conti- 
nent. But it drove the patriotic party in Germany almost 
to despair. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE LAST YEARS OF FRENCH SUPREMACY; NAPOLEON IN 
RUSSIA. 

§ 1. The War of 1809 in the Tyrol. § 2. Zeal of the Tyrolese for Austria. 
§ 3. Wrede's Invasion of the Tyrol. § 4. The French and their Allies De- 
feated in August. § 5. The Revolt Crushed after the Peace of Schonbrunn. 
§ 6. Plans of the Prussian Patriots. § 7. Dornberg's Expedition. § 8. 
Schill's Daring March. § 9. Frederick William of Brunswick Invades Bai- 
reuth. § 10. Marches to the Sea and Escapes to England. § 11. Napo- 
leon's Situation after the Campaign of 1809. § 12. Condition of Prussia. 
§ 13. Of the Smaller German States. § 14. Changes in Holland, Hanover, 
and the Hanse Towns. § 15. Power and Policy of Napoleon in 1810. 
§ IG. Dangers of Prussia; Alliance with France. § 17. Preparations for 
War with Russia. § 18. Invasion of Russia. § 19. Battle of Borodino. 
§ 20. Ruin of Napoleon's Army. § 21. Course of Stein. § 22. Convention 
of Tauroggen. § 23. York's Report to the King. § 24. The King's Sit- 
uation and Policy. § 25. Patriotic Movements in East Prussia. 

§ 1, The year 1809 brought new instances of German 
patriotism. The incidents of the great Austrian war are 
significant proofs of the changed temper of the German 
people. The Tyrol, for centuries a possession of Austria, was 
ceded to Bavaria by the Peace of Presburg in 1805. The 
Bavarians made many innovations, in the French style, 
some good and some bad ; but the mountaineers, clinging to 
their ancient ways, resisted them all alike. They hated the 
Bavarians as foreign masters forced upon them ; and espe- 
cially detested the military conscription, to which Austria 
had never subjected them. The priests had an almost un- 
limited influence over these faithful Catholics, and the Bava- 
rians, who ti'eated them rudely, were regarded as innovators 
and allies of i*evolutionary France. Thus the country sub- 
mitted restlessly to the yoke of the Rhine League until the 
spring of 1809. A secret understanding was maintained 
with Austria and the Archduke John, and the people never 
abandoned the hope of returning to their Austrian allegiance. 

§ 2. When the great war of 1809 began, the Emperor 



602 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

Francis summoned all his people to arms. The Tyrolese 
answered the call. They were as true to their hereditary 
king as to their faith, and still full of their ancient spirit of 
freedom. They are a people trained in early life to the use 
of arms, and to activity, courage, and ready devices in hunt- 
ing, and in traveling on their mountain paths. Austria 
could be sure of the faithfulness of the Tyrol, and made haste 
to occupy the country. When the first troops w^ere seen en- 
tering the passes, the people arose and drove away the Ba- 
varian garrisons. The alarm was soon sounded through the 
deepest ravines of the land. Never was there a more united 
people, and each troop or company chose its own ofiicers, in 
the ancient German style, from among their strongest and 
best men. Their commanders were hunters, shepherds, priests: 
the former gamekeeper, Speckbacher ; the innkeeper, Martin 
Teimer ; the fiery Capuchin monk, Ilaspinger, whose sole 
weapon in the field was a huge ebony crucifix, and many 
more of like peaceful occupations. At the head of the whole 
army M'as a man who, like Saul, towered by a head above 
all others, while his handsome black beard fell to his girdle — 
Andrew Hofer, formerly an innkeeper at Passeyr — a man of 
humble piety and simple faithfulness, who fairly rejDresented 
the people he led. He regarded the war as dutiful service 
to his religion, his emperor, and his country. The whole 
land soon swarmed wnth little bands of men, making their 
way to Innspriick (April, 1809), whence the Bavarian garrison 
fled. Meanwhile a small French corps came from Italy to 
relieve them. Though fired upon by the peasants from every 
ravine and hill, they passed the Brenner, and reached the 
Iselberg, near Innspriick. But here they were suri-ounded on 
every side, and forced to surrender. The first Austrian sol- 
diers, under General Chasteler, then reached the capital, and 
their welcome was a popular festival. The liberators, as the 
Tyrolese soldiers regarded themselves, committed no cruel- 
ties, biit carried on their enterprise in the spirit of a national 
jubilee. 

§ 3. The tidings of the disasters at Regensburg now came 
upon them like a thunderbolt. The withdrawal of the Aus- 
trian army then left the Tyrol without protection. Napoleon 
treated the war as a mutiny, and set a price upon Chastelcr's 



Chai'. XXVIII. THE WAR IN THE TYROL. 603 

head. Neither Chasteler nor any of the Austrian officers 
with him understood the warfare of the peasantry. The Ty- 
rolese were left almost wholly to themselves, but they re- 
solved to defend their mountains. On May 11 the Bavarians 
under Wrede again set out from Salzburg, captured the pass 
of the Strub after a bloody fight, and then climbed into the 
valley of the Inn. They practiced frightful cruelties in their 
way. A fierce struggle took place at the little village of 
Schwatz; the Bavarians burned the place, and marched to Inn- 
spriick. Chasteler withdrew, and the Bavarians and French, 
under Wrede and Lefevre, entered the capital. The country 
again appeared to be subdued. But cruelty had embittered 
the people. Wrede was recalled, with his corps, by Napo- 
leon ; and now Hofer, with his South Tyrolese, recrossed the 
Brenner Pass. Again the general alarm was given, the lead- 
ers called to arras, and again every pass, every wall of rock, 
every narrow road was seized. The struggle took place at 
the Iselberg. The Bavarians, '7000 in number, were defeated 
with heavy loss. The Tyrol now remained for several months 
undisturbed, during the campaign around Vienna. 

§ 4, After the battle of Aspern, an imperial proclamation 
formally assured the Tyrolese that they should never be 
severed from the Austrian Empire ; and that no peace should 
be signed unless their indissoluble union with the monarchy 
were recognized. The Tyrolese quietly trusted the emper- 
or's promise, until the armistice of Znaim. But in this the 
Tyrol was not mentioned, and the French and their allies 
prepared to chastise the loyal and abandoned country. Le- 
fevre returned, with French, Saxon, and Bavarian soldiers, 
and took the capital without opposition. Then the Tyrolese 
people, for the third time, rose against the foreigners (August, 
1809). A corps, mainly of Saxons, advancing from the south, 
were caught in the narrow ravines of the Eisach, and almost 
buried inider rocks and trunks of trees, hurled on them from 
above. It seemed to them as if the mountains were falling 
on them. A second column was destroyed in a similar man- 
ner, in the valley of the Upper Inn, above Landeck. The 
French marshal himself escaped with difficult}-. Hofer en- 
tered the castle at Innspriick as commander-in-chief of the 
Tyrol. 



604 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

§ 5. Then came the Peace of Schonbrunn, by which the 
Tyrol was hopelessly sacrificed. Napoleon sent about 50,000 
men to the mountains. Up to this time the court of Vienna 
had encouraged the revolt ; but now it suddenly advised 
them to submit. Most of the people yielded to necessity. 
Hofer resigned his command, and ordered the people to re- 
turn home and lay down their arms. But his simplicity was 
deceived by fanatics, and he once more undertook to resist. 
The whole land besides was subjected ; only around his val- 
ley of the Passeyr was there still an attempt to defend the 
country (November, 1809). In his extreme excitement, Hofer 
neglected either to escape or to submit in time. Even his 
nearest friends dispersed, Speckbacher lay all winter, hid- 
den in a stable, with his leg broken, until he found an op- 
portunity for flight. Haspinger escaped into Austria, and 
lived to be present, in 1839, when the Hofer monument was 
dedicated in the cathedral at Innspriick. Hofer himself took 
up his abode among the mountains, in a herdsman's hut, 
which was abandoned during the winter. But he was be- 
trayed by a priest named Donay. On January 20,1810, a 
troop of soldiers were guided over the snow to him, and 
brought down the patriot in bonds. He was treated with 
harshness — his beard was plucked, he was led barefoot over 
ice ; but he bore all with invincible patience. A court-mar- 
tial at Mantua sentenced him to die, and he was shot in the 
fortifications of the city, February 20, 1810. The Tyrol was 
subjugated once more, for a time. 

§ 6. It was not among the Tyrolese alone that the war of 
1809 was signalized by acts of heroism. There was much 
excitement in Northern Germany. In the previous year. 
Stein and his friends had formed far-reaching plans. The 
English were to land at the mouth of the Ems or Weser, 
with at least 50,000 men, as soon as Austria should declare 
war. The people of Hanover, Brunswick, and Hesse, still 
faithful to their ancient princely houses, should be called to 
arms. Prussia, it was believed, would surely join the alli- 
ance, and all Germany would be united in the war against 
Napoleon. The plan was defeated by the delay of England, or 
by its preference of the useless expedition to the Netherlands. 
Instead of the generaj movement of the people, there were 



Chap. XXVIII. DOENBEKG AND SCHILL. 005 

but a few detached efforts to support the Austrian cause; 
and these soon ended in misfortune. 

§ 7. Dornberg was of a noble Hessian family, and already 
had much experience as a soldier, having accompanied Blii- 
cher to the end of the campaign of 1806. He then entered 
Jerome's service as colonel, but, like all the Hessians, was 
discontented under foreign rule, and took an active part in 
the plan for a general movement against Napoleon. Hesse 
seemed ripe for a revolt, and the peasants of that region, who 
are accustomed to arms, were regarded as sure to rise when- 
ever a call should be made. Doi'nberg formed the bold plan 
of seizing the King of Westphalia as a prisoner in his own 
city, with only his own battalion, in which he trusted, and 
such help as the peasantry might bring. But these began 
their revolt too soon (April 21). Dornberg was compelled to 
leave Cassel, but soon found himself at the head of from 
8000 to 10,000 countrymen, unaccustomed to war, and almost 
unarmed. They were, of course, dispersed by a few grape- 
shot and a charge of cavalry. Dornberg in the disguise of a 
peasant and after many adventures, reached Frederick Will- 
iam, Duke of Brunswick, whom he afterward attended with 
honoi', until he won a distinguished position in Russia, and 
finally in the Prussian army. 

§ 8. Schill, a handsome, impetuous man, too adventurous 
for success, but a hero in heart, distinguished himself, as we 
have seen, in the defense of Colberg. When the French 
evacuated Berlin in 1808, he was the first to lead the Prus- 
sians into their city, and was welcomed with enthusiasm, 
both by the army and by the people. When Dornberg led 
the revolt in Hesse, some of the younger oflicers in the Alt- 
mark were to march against Magdeburg. In April, 1809, 
Austria began the war, but Prussia still delayed. Schill 
conceived the notion of setting an example of a North Ger- 
man war of the people, and of hurrying into it, if possible, 
Prussia and the king. On April 28 he led out his regiment 
of cavalry, about 500 strong, before Berlin, as if for a drill. 
He then announced to them his purpose to begin a war 
against the oppressor of Germany. The men were devoted 
to him, and met his declaration with eager applause. About 
two hundred of his infantry battalion, with four officers. 



006 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

came to him afterward as volunteers. The number soon in- 
creased. He turned toward Saxony, forced his way through 
Wittenberg, and then advanced to Halle, where he was re- 
ceived as a liberator. But here the tidings of the first Aus- 
trian reverses reached him, and of the failures in Hesse and 
the Altmark. Schill began to hesitate. He moved north- 
ward toward the Elbe, and at Dodendorf, near Magdeburg, 
defeated a corps of Westphalians sent against him. But it 
Avas already evident that his example would not stir up 
among the North Germans any such general popular move- 
ment as had taken place in Spain or the Tyrol. King Fred- 
erick William was justly offended at the arbitrary and vio- 
lent conduct of his officer. Before the superior forces of the 
state, he withdrew through Mecklenburg to the Baltic Sea, 
and at length took refuge in Stralsnnd, then a poorly fortified 
town, where he surprised and captured the French garrison. 
He hoped to make a Saragossa of this city by a glorious de- 
fense, and rejected the advice of friends to escape to Rugea 
or to a British ship. Meanwhile he was surrounded by 
troops from Westphalia and Holland, and even from Den- 
mark, in all 6000 men. The assailants broke through the 
poorly defended gates, and Schill fell at last in a fierce fight 
in the streets of Stralsnnd, May 31, 1809. He was buried 
without military honors. But his comrades who were cap- 
tured fared still worse. Napoleon treated them as guilty 
of high treason. Fourteen natives of Westphalia were shot 
in Brunswick, and eleven young officers in Wesel. The com- 
mon soldiers went to France, where they were sent to the 
galleys with robbers and murderers, until they were set free 
by the victory of the allies in 1814. 

§ 9. Frederick William of Brunswick-Oels was the son of 
the Duke Charles William Ferdinand who was fatally wound- 
ed at Jena. The duchy was annexed to Westphalia. But 
Frederick William, long trained to hate and oppose the op- 
pressor of Germany, was now made acquainted with the plans 
of Stein. When the war broke out, he recruited a corps in 
Silesia on his own account, intending to attack the King of 
Westphalia. He pledged his estates in Silesia (Oels) to 
Prussia, for advances of money and materials of war. His 
corps was not filled up until some time after the battles in 



Chap. XXVIII. INSURRECTION IN NORTH GERMANY. 607 

Bavaria, and it was then put under the command of an Aus- 
trian general to be employed in Saxony. Finally, a vigorous 
advance was made towaid Franconia, and into the ancient 
territory of Baireuth, where the people were still attached to 
Prussia, with the design of attacking Jerome and Junot, 
when the news of the armistice was received. If the prince 
wished to be regarded as an Austrian officer, he was bound 
by its terms ; but he disregarded it, and went on, in the pride 
of an independent prince, to make war on his own account. 
About half of his corps — 1300 musketeers, 650 horsemen, and 
80 artillerists with four guns — declared themselves ready to 
follow him wherever he should go. 

§ 10. The little band carried a death's head on their caps, 
as a token that quarter would neither be given nor accepted. 
The duke now undertook to force his way to his capital, and 
onward to the sea. His following was like one of the an- 
cient German bands, of which Tacitus remarks that they 
thought it honor to die with their chief, and sliame to sur- 
vive him. The little mimic army marched through Saxony 
to Halle, where, like Schill's band, they were welcomed by 
the faithful Prussian people. They then j^assed the heights 
of the Hartz and Quedlinburg, and on July 28 reached Hal- 
berstadt. Here there chanced to be a Westphalian regiment 
on its way from Magdeburg, and they, surprised by hearing 
that the enemy were near, in tlie midst of a peaceful country, 
undertook to defend the towers and gates of the city. A 
lively conflict ensued ; but the duke battered down the gates 
with cannon, and, after a night battle in the streets, the ene- 
my yielded. The pi'isoners were all Germans, and many of 
them joined the bold band. On July 31 the towers of Bruns- 
wick were in view. The duke, with his weary followers, en- 
camped on the fortifications of his city, which had been turn- 
ed into promenades. Now came the decisive struggle. A 
Westphalian corps of five thousand men, under Reubel, met 
the duke here, while the Dutch commander, Gratien, followed 
him with another body of troojDS as large, the same that had 
destroyed Schill. The duke attacked the former corps on 
August 1 at Oelper, a village two miles from Biuinswick, 
but could not break his way through, and was driven back 
to Brunswick. But during the night Reubel strangely march- 



608 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

ed avound Brunswick to join Gratien, and on August 2 the 
duke found the way open for his retreat. He moved hastily, 
with wagons collected from the people, or voluntarily fur- 
nished by them, through Hanover and Wunsdorf to Bremen, 
reaching the Weser at Niendorf. At Hoya the pursuing 
enemy drew near, but the little army embarked at Elsfleth 
without annoyance. The Danes, who had helped to ensnare 
Schill, were also here at the mouth of the Weser, but their 
balls did no harm. Thus the duke and his followers reached 
the open sea, after a rapid march of fourteen days from the 
Bohemian frontier. British ships conveyed them to Heligo- 
land, and they nearly all entered " the German Legjon," 
which fought so well in Spain under Wellington against the 
French. 

§ 11. Thus Napoleon ended the campaign of 1809 victori- 
ously. The first gi'eat movement of German patriotism was 
defeated, and the prospect was darker than ever. Austria, 
under Metternich, seemed to aim only to please Napoleon, 
although neither the emperor nor the high nobles entertain- 
ed any friendship for the conqueror. But the country was 
exhausted, and its, finances were broken down, so that, apart 
from Napoleon's new relationship by marriage to Francis, 
the means of sustaining another great enterprise were not at 
hand. Indeed, Austria w'as on the brink of bankruptcy. 

§ 1 2. But Austria was still in a better position than Prus- 
sia, which had done enough in 1809 to provoke Napoleon, 
and yet not enough to be regarded as an ally of Austria in 
the war. Napoleon knew the hatred of thfe leading Prussians 
toward him, and his wrath was fierce against the little king- 
dom he had already so maltreated. The new ministry of 
Dohna and Altenstein strove to mitigate his anger by sub- 
mission ; the Tugendbund was dissolved ; the royal family 
returned from Konigsberg, where they had been free, and near 
to Russia, which was still their friend, to Berlin, within reach 
of the French forces in Magdeburg, Lower Pomerania, and 
Hamburg. The ministers even humiliated themselves so far 
as to propose to content Napoleon by ceding Silesia to him, 
to be at his disposal. On the very day on which they laid 
this plan before the king he sent a messenger to Hardenberg, 
March 14, 1810, inviting him to serve as chancellor of the 



Chap. XXVIII. NAPOLEON'S COMMERCIAL SYSTEM. 609 

kingdom. Havdenberg carried on Stein's reforms in the in- 
terior, and in foreign afiairs pnrsued a policy as resolute as 
it was prudent. 

§ 13, The states of the Rhine Confederacy, formed by Na- 
poleon out of the fragments of the empire, found their condi- 
tion by no means improved under him. The arbitrary divi- 
sion and exchange of territories went on unchecked after 
1809, Thus Bavaria, which was to have had the entire Ty- 
rol, received back but a part of it: part went to the kingdom 
of Italy, and part to Illyria, now annexed to France, Bava- 
ria had also been required to make smaller cessions to the 
Grand-Duchy of Wiirzburg and to Wirtemberg, In compen- 
sation it received Salzburg, part of Upper Austria, and Bai- 
reuth. But these accessions bore no relation to the sacrifices 
made for Napoleon in 1809, and to the hopes then excited; 
and Bavaria was discontented. The new Grand-Duchy of 
Frankfort, given by Napoleon to Dalberg, was treated with 
similar willfulness, and Napoleon's step-son, Eugene Beauhar- 
nais, was designated as Dalberg's successor. The states of 
the Rhine League now began to feel the burden of foreign 
supremacy. Napoleon's wars required ever higher taxes and 
severer conscriptions. The complaining people began to be 
suspected. The book trade and the newspapers were put 
under the most rigid censorship, and almost ruined. The 
mails were tampered with, private letters opened, and family 
life and prison cells were alike haunted by spies. No tribu- 
nal was independent, no judgment pronounced but under ar- 
bitrary control. The heaviest burden of all was the " Con- 
tinental system" of embargo, which was enforced despotical- 
ly and under cruel penalties. Yet the law was broken, not 
only by contraband tradesmen, but under shameful licenses 
sold for the purpose by Napoleon himself. These practices 
had a deplorable effect on public morality. 

§ 14. It was only by constant violence to law and prece- 
dent that Napoleon's commercial war against England could 
be maintained. His brother Louis, King of Holland, found 
the interests of his people so much injured by the nari'ow, 
exclusive, and protective policy of France, that he sustained 
it with hesitation and without efficiency, and his lukewarm- 
ness offended the em])eror, who sent a French army under 

R R 



610 HISTOEY OF GERMANY. Boo«v V. 

Oudinot to occupy the Dutch ports. Louis then (July 1, 
1810) abdicated his crown in favor of his eldest son, still a,n 
infant, and retired to Austria ; but Napoleon at once (July 
9) incorporated Holland with the French Empire, a part of 
which it continued to be until December, 1813. He jjublish- 
ed a decree excusing this annexation, on the ground that 
Holland is the creation of French rivers (that is, the deposit 
of the Rhine and the Maas !). On December 13, 1810, nearly 
the whole of Northwestern Germany was annexed to the 
French Empire. Hanover, which had been seized by Napo- 
leon in 1806, and annexed to Westphalia in January, 1810, 
was now again directly severed from it. Oldenburg, hitherto 
a member of the Rhine Confederacy, was compelled to dis- 
pense with its duke. The Hanse cities, and some smaller 
districts, as far as Liibeck, were annexed immediately to 
France. The explanation given was, that " this union is dic- 
tated by circumstances ;" that is, by the continued trade 
with England, which was to be suppressed ; and in the case 
of Frankfort, that " this city, founded by Napoleon's prede- 
cessor, Charlemagne, must uo longer be kept from its natural 
union with France." 

§ 15. Napoleon seemed to stand at the summit of fortune 
and power. On March 20, 1811, the long-vvished-for heir was 
born, and the child. Napoleon Francis Charles Joseph, after- 
ward known as the Duke of Reichstadt, at once received the 
title of King of Rome. But this fortune and power were al- 
ready hollow. The French themselves were sated with the 
"glory" which ruined their trade, wasted their fields, and 
spilled the blood of their sons. It was on violence and terror 
that Napoleon, whose contempt for the people steadily grew, 
relied to maintain his throne, which was already beginning 
to tremble. Sweden seemed sure to be his ally, since his 
relative. Marshal Bernadotte, had been adopted in 1810 as 
Crown-Prince of Sweden, and heir to the throne of the child- 
less Charles XHI. But he had good reason to distrust the 
^man he had advanced, especially after it became obvious that 
the true interests of Sweden must be sacrificed, if Napole- 
on's commands, to adopt his " Continental system," should 
be obeyed. His relations to Russia were still less satisfac- 
tory. Alexander had satisfied himself at Erfurt that Nu- 



Chap. XXVIII. POLICY OF AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA. 611 

poleon would not be content to permit Russia to acquire 
more than Finland and the Danubian provinces ; that he 
would never consent to see Constantinople in the hands of 
the Czai". He saw that Napoleon's friendship was of little 
value to him. Besides, the Continental embargo, which he 
had suffered to be imposed on him, could not possibly be 
maintained as a permanent policy in Kussia, and at the end 
of the year 1810 it was abandoned for a new tariff. The de- 
throning of his relation, the Duke of Oldenburg, was regard- 
ed by Alexander as a personal injury. Perhaps the most con- 
trolling reason, however, in Alexander's mind for hostility to 
Napoleon was the slight upon his sister, Anne Paulowna, in 
1810. Napoleon then sued for her hand, and yet, finding 
that there was likely to be hesitation in accepting his suit, 
opened negotiations for marriage with Maria Louisa of Aus- 
tria before the Russian reply was received. This act Alex- 
ander never forgave, and it may be conjectured that, but for 
certain religious scruples in the mind of the empress dowager 
of Russia, the fate of Europe might have been changed. 
After the year 1811 it became constantly more obvious that 
a war between the two great emperors was approaching. 

§ 16. The part Germany would take in the approaching 
conflict seemed plain. The Rhine Confederacy could but 
obey Napoleon's orders. Metternich in Austria thought the 
ascendency of Russia in Europe quite as great a danger as 
that of France. A league with Napoleon promised in the 
East, in Galicia and the Danubian provinces, a compensation 
for all that had been lost in the West. Napoleon now eager- 
ly sought the friendshijD of Austria. An alliance was con- 
cluded, and Marshal Schwarzenberg, with 30,000 men, was 
assigned to the service of Napoleon in the coming cam- 
paign. The position of Prussia was full of peril. In a visit 
to St. Petersburg, Frederick William had renewed his old 
friendship with Alexander, and the Prussian patriots looked 
to Russia as their natural sujjport. How could they join 
Napoleon against Russia, knowing that Napoleon had long 
resolved to embrace the earliest opportunity to blot out 
Prussia from the map ? The friends of the country recom- 
mended a desperate struggle against Napoleon. Scharnhorst 
made ready 124,000 men ; the fortresses were armed afresh ; 



612 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

the temper of the people was excellent, and the land seemed, 
among its rivers and marshes, like an almost invincible en- 
campment. The king and the people were alike resolved to 
meet the worst firmly and with honor. But they sought to 
avoid the extremity. Hardenberg even oflered an alliance to 
Napoleon, who knew of the prepai'ations of Prussia, and made 
no answer. On the other hand, Alexander gave no express 
assurance of his protection. Prussia was in a fever of excite- 
ment, between anxiety and hope, irresolution and despair. 
A network of troops was drawn around the unfortunate coun- 
try, from Dantzic and Poland to Hamburg and the Rhine. 
At last Napoleon uttered his demands : Prussia must make an 
alliance with him against Russia, must furnish him 20,000 
auxiliary troops, permit the transit of his army, undertake 
the support of it on the way, and restore to him at least 
some of its fortresses. In return, Prussia was to receive the 
provinces of Livonia, Esthonia, and Courland, which were to 
be wrested from Russia. The convention was signed Feb- 
ruary 24, 1812, and, for the time, destroyed the last hopes of 
the Prussian patriots, who were ready for a death-struggle 
in defense of German and Prussian independence. All the 
preparations made during the year were now in the hands 
of the enemy. About three hundred officers left the Prussian 
service, and most of them went to Russia to fight against 
Napoleon. 

§ 17. In the spring of 1812 vast masses of troops, the lar- 
gest armies seen in Europe since the time of Attila, began to 
move through Germany toward Russia. They marched in 
splendid military order, and in the proud consciousness that 
they were invincible. Of the 600,000 men led by Napoleon 
to Russia, 200,000 were Germans; and nearly all of them 
perished in a strange land, for a stranger's cause. On May 
9 Napoleon reached Dresden, where he remained three weeks. 
Subject kings and princes crowded around liim here, on much 
the s&me footing as his generals and marshals. This was 
the culmination of his fortune, and of the prostration of Ger- 
many before him. Goethe himself gave magnificent expres- 
sion to the slavish humiliation of the German mind in an 
ode to the Empress Maria Louisa, and praised the conquer- 
or's reign as the golden age. Even Francis I. and Frederick 



Chap. XXVIII. THE INVASION OF RUSSIA. 613 

William III. could not avoid waiting upon him. At Dres- 
den he issued his proud order that the kings, princes, and 
marshals should proceed to their own head-quarters. The 
emperor then followed his troops, having sent them forward 
into Poland and East Prussia. Here he mustered his vast 
forces. The troops of the Rhine Confederacy, like the French, 
saluted him with loud acclaims, hut the Prussians, as he 
rode before their ranks, remained in proud silence. Napoleon 
was displeased at this, but admired their accurate and sol- 
dierly bearing. They then crossed the Niemen into Russia 
(end of June, 1812). 

§ 18. The " Grand Army" under Napoleon at once made a 
general advance toward the heart of the Russian Empire, 
against Wilna, Smolensk, and Moscow ; but the Prussian aux- 
iliaries were placed on the left wing, which, under Macdonald, 
invaded the Baltic provinces. The Austrians, under Prince 
Schwarzenberg, had a still more independent position on the 
right wing, which advanced from Galicia into Southern 
Russia. The Prussian corps had been placed, at Napoleon's 
desire, under the command of General Grawert, an honest, 
but weak and pliable man. The king had therefore given 
him General York as an assistant, knowing that in his hands 
the honor of the Prussian corps was safe. In the course of 
the summer Grawert took a long furlough on account of 
sickness, and York assumed the command. The commander- 
in-chief, Marshal Macdonald, was a man of honor and of a 
generally amiable character; but York was in the highest 
degree unacceptable to the French, and Macdonald endeav- 
ored in every way to annoy him, in order to drive him from 
the army. York saw the design, but met every thing with 
his cool, satirical patience, and remained. The Prussians 
made it a point of honor, since they must for the time fol- 
low their conqueror's standard, to show themselves soldiers. 
Macdonald was indebted to them for the victory of Bauske, 
and they distinguished themselves again under the walls of 
Riga. 

§ 19. Meanwhile the Russians retired farther and farther 
into their immeasurable wastes, avoiding a battle, and draw- 
ing their enemies onward. The French troops suffered fright- 
fully from hunger and disease, and even before the end of 



614 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Booit V. 

July scarcely two thirds of them were fit for service. Of 
22,000 Bavarians who crossed the Oder, but one half reached 
the Diina, though they had met no enemy. This plan of 
destroying the invaders by nature itself is said to have been 
conceived by Knesebeck, a German, submitted to Alexander 
and approved by him — though there are several other claim- 
ants of the idea. The clamor among the Russians against 
foreign influence comj)elled the Czar to displace General 
Barclay de Tolly, a Livonian German, hitherto commander- 
in-chief, by the veteran Kutusofl:', who, to defend Moscow, 
fought the terrible but mdecisive battle of Borodino, Sep- 
tember 7. This was the most destructive contest in history: 
each side lost nearly 50,000 men. The French wounded nearly 
all died from starvation or want of care. After the battle 
the Russians retreated, and did not further defend their an- 
cient capital, so that the French bulletins claimed a glorious 
victory; but it was a heavy blow to Napoleon's strength. 
On September 14, 1812, Napoleon entered Moscow, confident 
of victory, and of an advantageous peace. 

§ 20. But now his great misfortunes began. The Russians 
laid their own capital in ashes. Napoleon deceived himself 
for a long time with liopes of a peace, and sent propositions 
to the Czar Alexander, to which no answer was returned. 
He only began his retreat on October 18, when winter was 
already at hand. It proved an earlier and more cruel win- 
ter than is usual even in Russia, beginning with very heavy 
snow November 6, and brought destruction to the Gi-and 
Army, and to the Germans with it. On reaching Smolensk, 
November 10, the hundred thousand eflfective men who left 
Moscow with Napoleon had been reduced in numbers to 
thirty thousand. Nine days later, only eight thousand men 
stood in line by their standards. In the frightful passage of 
the Beresina (November 26-29), 20,000 lives were lost ; and 
Napoleon, on December 4, left his army and fled, wrapped in 
furs and under an assumed name, through Germany to France. 
It was near the end of the year when the remnant of the 
Grand Army, worn out, and wrapped in rags or straw, reached 
the Prussian frontier. It is estimated that 125,000 men were 
lost in battle, 48 generals, 3000 ofiicers, and 190,000 men 
were taken prisoners by the Russians, and 132,000 were 



Chap. XXVIII. THE CONVENTION OF TAUROGGEN. 615 

Starved or frozen during the retreat. Only 1000 men en- 
tered Prussia in military order, followed by a rabble ot 
20,000 ; but the whole body then dispersed, carrying their 
typhus and camp fevers in every direction. 

§ 21. Stein was with the Emperor Alexander in St. Peters- 
burg. It was largely due to him that the burning of Moscow 
produced no panic at the court, that Napoleon's proposals 
of peace were not regarded, and that Alexander persisted in 
his resolution to make the struggle one of extermination. 
He now hastened, in company with E. M, Arndt, the German 
author, across the snow-fields of Livonia and Lithuania to 
the frontiers of Germany, resolved to press to the utmost 
every means of warring against Napoleon. 

§ 22. York, who held his corps of Prussians as much aloof 
from the French as possible, and was at heart Napoleon's 
bitter foe, was fully understood by the Russians. Even while 
he was before Riga, the Russians strove to hold secret com- 
munications with him, and to separate him from the French ; 
and they kept up these eiforts afterward. York acted with 
caution toward both Russians and French, and mei'ely kept 
up intercourse with the former, without committing himself 
He thus received early tidings of the ruin of the Grand Army. 
When the severe Avinter came on, Macdonald also retreated 
from Courland, the French in advance, the Prussians, in two 
divisions, under jMassenbach and York, bringing up the rear. 
These were soon surrounded by the victorious Russians, and 
Generals Diebitsch and Wittgenstein renewed their proposals 
to York to abandon the French. Prussians in the Russian 
service, Clausewitz among them, acted as mediators. York 
was prudent enough to wish his conduct to seem forced ; and 
was glad when his corps was cut off" from the French, and in- 
dignant when the opportunity was offered to rejoin them. 
Finally, he made a convention at Tauroggen, December 30, 
1812, by which he agreed not to act with the French, but to 
occupy quarters to be assigned him by the Russians in the 
province of East Prussia, in strict neutrality, until the king 
should decide to accept or reject the convention. The Prus- 
sian soldiers greeted their Russian friends with delight, and 
with a sense that the new j^ear, 1813, was full of promise. 

§ 23. York had acted without authority and in ignorance 



616 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V, 

of the king's purpose, since he had no definite instructions to 
meet the circumstances in which he was placed. He wrote 
to the king : " I lay my head cheerfully at your majesty's 
feet, if I have erred ; and assure your majesty that I shall 
await the ball on the hillock as calmly as on the battle-field, 
where I have grown gray." But he added also : " Now or 
never is the moment to embrace freedom, independence, and 
greatness. In your majesty's decision lies the world's fate." 
York had but done what millions thought and wished. The 
Russians crossed the frontier of Prussia as the public ene- 
mies of that country, Napoleon's ally ; but they were every 
where welcomed as liberators. The Prussian corps could no 
longer look on in idle neutrality. York, bent on " giving 
the king his own free will," resumed his place as governor- 
general of East Prussia, and on January 5, 1813, following 
the Russians, entered Konigsberg, amid the universal rejoic- 
ing of the people. A few days later Stein also arrived there. 
§ 24. No commands had been received from the king, 
Frederick William III. had constantly cherished the wish 
to break the French yoke, and the great defeat in Russia 
strengthened his hopes. But in the helplessness of Prussia 
he could only hope to do this with the help of Russia and 
Austria. York's act, in saving the heart of the army, was 
welcome to the king ; but it was a sore embarrassment to 
him that it was known to have been dictated by political 
rather than by military considerations. The king in his 
capital, among the French and overshadowed by Napoleon's 
ascendency, could but reject York's convention, and declare 
him superseded. The French journals were already clamor- 
ous against "York's treason," and it was in fact this conven- 
tion which at once and finally freed Prussia as far as the 
Oder from Napoleon's power. It was natural to expect that 
Napoleon would take vengeance for York's conduct upon 
the king and upon all Prussia. Extreme prudence was nec- 
essary on all sides. Hardenberg endeavored to satisfy the 
emperor by representing the military preparations of Prussia 
as designed to aid him. Major Natzmer was sent by the 
king to Murat at Konigsberg to announce the removal of 
York, and then to York himself avowedly with the same tid- 
ings. The Russians, of course, would not permit him to 



Chap. XXVIII. YORK IN EAST PRUSSIA. 617 

pass. He then laid aside his uniform and fulfilled his secret 
errand, going to Czar Alexander at Wilua to offer him the 
alliance of Prussia as soon as he should cross the Vistula. 
But York learned his removal only through the newspapers, 
and retained his command ; nor was General Kleist, who had 
been designated to succeed him, willing to assume the place. 
§ 25. In the province of East Prussia, which was a genuine 
product of German colonization, there was now aroused a 
general patriotic enthusiasm among all classes of the people, 
which spread like fire throughout Prussia and Germany. 
The province was impoverished by the long continuance of 
the w'ar; it was exhausted by the passing armies of 1812 ; 
and the harvest had failed. But the people brought their 
voluntary contributions, and the young men leaped to arms. 
Stein, with his one great object in view, made a pretense of 
taking possession of the province as dictator in the name of 
Russia, in order to levy the means of w'ar and to collect the 
revenues. But the patriotic sense of the Prussians revolted 
at this, and Stein and York quarreled bitterly. Schon, the 
chief president of the province, and Auerswald and Dohna 
acted as mediators, and at length Stein yielded, seeing that 
the people of the province were in earnest and needed no 
comjDulsion. He went to Breslau, but not until he had called 
together the provincial estates, who in this emergency as- 
sembled, in the name of the king, but without awaitmg the 
king's summons (February 5-8). They resolved to prepare 
all the forces of the province for war, to call the whole people 
to arms, to form a militia and a national guard, also a regi- 
ment of national cavalry, to be maintained by voluntary con- 
tributions. All these forces were put under the command 
of York as governor-general. As Arndt describes it; " The 
young men and boys in their sixteenth and seventeenth 
years, hardly strong enough yet to bear arms, left the gym- 
nasium, eager to learn the management of horses and of 
guns, reciting hymns of Tyrtaeus and verses from Klopstock's 
'Hermannsschlacht,' while fathers and mothers looked on with 
folded hands engaged in silent prayer." York made a stir- 
ring speech to the States at parting and was wildly cheei-ed. 
" Reserve your applause," he replied, " till I ask it on the 
field of battle." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE NEW BIRTH OF GERMAN PATRIOTISM ; THE WAR OF 
FREEDOM BEGINS, 1813. 

§ 1 . Effects in Prussia of the Kussian Campaign. § 2. Frederick William 
III. in Breslau. § 3. Treaty of Kalisch. § 4. The People Armed. § 5. 
The Prussian Armies. § 6. The Popular Zeal. § 7. The Poets ; Theo- 
dore Korner. § 8. Arndt, Riickert, Schenkendorf. § 9. Hamburg Occu- 
pied by the Russians. § 10. Delay of the Allies ; Saxony Adheres to 
Napoleon. § 11. Delays of the Russians and Prussians. § 12. Napoleon's 
Preparations; Battle of Gross-Gorschen. § 13. Retreat of the Allies; 
Battle of Bautzen. § 14. Armistice of Pleisswitz. § 15. The Prussians 
Zealous for War. § IG. Diplomacy of Metternich. § 17. Treaty of Reich- 
enbach. Austria Joins the Allies. § IS. The Armies of the Coalition. 

§ 1. As early as December 20 the magnitude of the disas- 
ter which had befallen the Grand Army was known to the 
court at Berlin ; and the king, whose first care was to save 
the Prussian troops from the general wreck, sent dispatches 
to York, authorizing him to act as he might find necessary 
for their rescue. Before the end. of the same month the 
foremost of the fugitive ofiicers, generals, and marshals of the 
French army began to pass through the city in flight, and 
the news of the unparalleled calamity which had befallen the 
expedition went before them through North Germany and 
Europe. The long-suppressed hatred of the Germans for 
their oppressors suddenly broke forth with terrible energy. 
The people sang of the overthrow of Napoleon as the ancient 
Hebrews did of that of Sennacherib. The king and Harden- 
berg, who could overlook the entire situation, were in need 
of all their caution. A misstep by them might finally ruin 
Prussia, and they dared not follow the popular cry. Berlin 
and Spandau still had French garrisons, as had Hamburg 
and Magdeburg, not far away. Exciting rumors spread 
that the French were about to seize the king as a prisoner, 
to be a hostage for the quiet of the people, and desperate 
measures were said to have been devised to meet such an 
emergency. 



Chap. XXIX. PKUSSIAN PATRIOTISM AROUSED. 619 

§ 2. All hearts were relieved to learn that in the nio-ht of 
January 22 the king had gone from Potsdam to Breslau, 
where he was beyond the reach of the enemy. This was the 
first indication the patriot party obtained of the king's desire 
to be free from French dictation. In silence, but hastily, 
.Frederick William III. went to this faithful city, which was 
safe from a surprise by the French, and accessible to Russia 
and Austria. He was received with delight by the citizens, 
and was now at least in no danger of being seized as a 
hostage by some French general. Personally, however, the 
king still regarded himself as bound in honor by his treaties 
of alliance with France; and he would doubtless have main- 
tained them, had the whole power of his government been 
able to resist the impetuous, universal resolve of the Prussian 
people to achieve independence. It was this that extorted 
Irom him the memorable call to arms of February 3, 1813. 
This paper was signed by Hardenberg — not by the king : it 
set forth, in a few simple words, that the state was in danger, 
and called for the formation of a volunteer corps of chasseurs, 
as a school for the training of ofiicers. The enemy to be met 
was not named in the proclamation. But the people could 
interpret it in but one way. The educated young men flock- 
ed to the standards; the universities closed their lecture-halls; 
the higher classes of the gymnasia were emptied, and the ex- 
ercise-rooms became drill-rooms. J^x Berlin, nine thousand 
volunteers were registered in three days. Men and boys 
came together; even the ofiices of state seemed to be desert- 
ed. In short, a fervor of patriotism broke forth throughout 
Prussia, as if a power that had compressed and concealed it 
long had been suddenly removed — an outbreak of popular 
military enthusiasm never surpassed but in the United States 
in 1861. "Germany is up," wrote young Theodore Korner 
to his father, March 10; "the Prussian eagle arouses in all 
hearts the hope of German freedom. My muse sighs for her 
fatherland ; let me be her worthy disciple. Yes, my dear 
father, I too must be a soldier; and I am ready to cast aside 
the multiplied gifts of fortune to win a fatherland, if it be 
with my blood." 

§ 3. This enthusiasm animated even the lowest classes of the 
people. Citizens and peasants alike in Prussia had experi- 



620 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

enced so much abuse and oppression that their rage against 
the French knew no bounds. Kutusoff and, in advance of 
his army, the Emperor Alexander now drew near Silesia and 
Breslau, passing through the Grand-Duchy of Warsaw, which 
the French abandoned. The old friendship of the two raon- 
archs was renewed, and at Kalisch, on February 28, a treaty 
was concluded for the restoration of the independence of Eu- 
rope. Prussia was to be restored to its position in 1806. 
Russia took possession of Poland, including that part which 
had been Prussian. The force brought by Russia to the aid 
of Prussia was small, having suffered terribly in the cam- 
paign of 1812. Prussia conceded much more than Russia, 
but in the enthusiasm of the hour the Germans made no 
close calculation. On March 11 King Frederick William 
published a royal edict doing justice to General York, and 
declaring him free fr-om blame in his convention with Die- 
bitsch. On March 15 Frederick William conducted Alexan- 
der as his guest into Breslau, where he was welcomed with 
tears of joy and shouts of applause by the whole people. 
Two days later, March 17, 1813, appeared the call of Fred- 
erick William III., addressed, " To my people." Its substance 
was as follows : " My faithful people, and indeed all Germans, 
need no account of the causes of the war which now begins. 
They are open before the eyes of Europe. Men of Branden- 
burg, Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania, and Lithuania ! You know 
what you have suffered for these seven years. You know 
what your sad doom will be if this war do not end in suc- 
cess. Remember your past : remember the Great Elector 
and the Great Frederick ! Even small nations have fought 
with great powers in such a cause as this. Remember the 
heroic Swiss and Netherlanders. This is the last and deci- 
sive struggle which we undergo for our existence, our inde- 
pendence, our prosperity. There is no escape for us but an 
honorable peace or a glorious death. Even this you Avould 
meet calmly, for honor's sake, since the Prussian and the Ger- 
man can not survive his honor. But we have a right to be 
confident. God and our firm purpose will give victory to 
our righteous cause, and a secure and gloi'ious peace will 
bring back to us the time of our prosperity." 

§ 4. On the same day the king announced to his people 



Chap. XXIX. THE RUSSIANS ADVANCE TO BERLIN. 621 

the formation of the militia and the national guard through- 
out Prussia. The order of "the Iron Cross" was founded 
March 10, the bii'thday of the late Queen Louisa, as a badge 
of honor for valor in this sacred war. On March 25, 1813, 
the Russian general Kutusofl", in Kalisch, addressed a call to 
the German people upon crossing the boundary, in which he 
declared that the Russians came as liberators to break the 
power of an ambitious conqueror, that henceforth the people 
and their rulers might live in freedom, in their own territo- 
ries and under their own laws. All Germans were summon- 
ed to embrace the sacred cause of their country and of hu- 
manity. German princes who should now adhere to the foe 
were threatened with the loss of their lands, and free con- 
stitutions and the restoration of the German Empire were 
promised as the fruit of the coming struggle. 

Frederick William III. Avas the fii'st German king who ever 
threw himself thus in confidence upon his people; and they 
nobly answered his call and his trust. The kingdom of 
Prussia had not at that time more than 5,000,000 of inhabit- 
ants, yet by the summons of 1813 it had an array of 271,000 
men, or one soldier to every eighteen of the people. No civ- 
ilized nation has ever done more. 

§ 5. Four armies were collected : one under York in East 
Prussia, one under Biilow in West Prussia, and others in Pom- 
erania and Silesia, The French still held the fortresses, es- 
pecially Dantzic, and had 20,000 men in Berlin. But York 
and Billow, with the Russian general Wittgenstein, marched 
directly to Berlin. On February 20, 1813, the first Cossacks 
ventured into the streets of the capital. On March 4 the 
French voluntarily left the city, which was growing danger- 
ous to them, and withdrew to Magdeburg, and the same day 
Wittgenstein's vanguard entered. On March 17 York, now 
restored by the king to all his dignities, made his entry amid 
the popular acclamations with 18,000 men, all zealous soldiers 
of Prussian independence. 

§ 6. Clothing, food, and arras were still wanting. But the 
people rivaled one another in their gifts. Those who had 
no money brought what goods they had. Brides gave their 
wedding-rings, and young girls their hair. Women sent their 
husbands, sons, and lovers, and it was a disgrace to remain 



622 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

behind. The Princess Marianne of Hesse -Homburg, with 
eight other princesses of the rqyal house, took tlie lead of the 
society for the care of the wounded. The religious feelings 
of the people revived, and all hearts turned to the war as a 
religious war — a true crusade, 

§ 7. Nor could the fervor of the movement be confined to 
Prussia: it spread rapidly through all Germany. German 
poetry had been nearly silent since Schiller's death, but it 
now suddenly awoke to new productiveness. Theodore Kor- 
ner, son of a friend of Schiller, born in 1791, sang as he fought, 
with patriotic fire, in the war for freedom, to which he gave 
his life. His art was inspired with longing for a fatherland. 
He entered as a volunteer Ltitzow's cavalry, in which he 
served beside Jahn, master of the German Turners, and Frie- 
sen, and many other young men of genius and character. 
The foreboding of death, which characterizes his poetry, was 
fulfilled, and, like Friesen, he was missing in the triumphal 
march homeward. Korner fell at Gadebusch, in Mecklen- 
burg, August 26, 1813 ; Friesen, during the winter campaign 
in France. 

§ 8. Another poet of the time was the manly Ernest Mau- 
rice Arndt (born 1769, died 1860), Stein's faithful companion 
in Russia. He vigorously encouraged the war spirit as well 
as the patriotic sentiments of the people. Frederick Riickert, 
too (born 1789, died 1866), then a youth, helped to swell the 
storm with fervent appeals against the wrongs Germany 
had sufiered. Schenkendorf (born 1783, died 1819) not only 
poured out melodious verses, but, though he had the use of 
but one arm, went like Korner to the fight. As in the time 
of the Reformation, so now, the spirited poetry of the day 
went through the land, kindling the zeal of the whole people. 
They became conscious of what they had forgotten for six 
hundred years — their national existence, their common life as 
a people. As early as February, 1814, men from the states 
of the Rhine League, and among the noblest of those lands, 
declared themselves Germans, and embraced the cause of 
their country against the oppressor. 

§ 9. Hamburg had been annexed to the French Empire in 
1810; but at the beginning of the great popular movement 
in North Germany the old German city was agitated. Its 



Chap. XXIX. EKRORS OF THE ALLIES. 623 

people had been terribly opi^ressed. The French, failino- to 
subdue them by the usual severities, evacuated the city. A 
few days afterward, on March 18, a body of Cossacks under 
the bold cavalry general Tettenborn entered, and were re- 
ceived with delight by the people, who thought themselves 
freed forever. Soon afterward Russian troops under Dorn- 
berg crossed the Elbe. On April 2 a battle took place at 
Liineburg, in which the French general Morand was killed 
and the city taken. 

§ 10. The people of all North Germany were now on the 
alert, through Hanover, Westphalia, and Bremen, to the very 
borders of Holland. It was an unfortunate error of the allies 
not to carry the war west of the Elbe at once. Supported by 
the patriotic rage of the injured people, they might have ex- 
pelled Jerome, intimidated the princes of the Confederacy of 
the Rhine, and opened the war on the banks of that river. 
But Prussia was not yet ready, and the real weakness of 
Russia showed itself more and more. The generals, too, were 
dilatory, and did not rise to the spirit of the people. These 
districts, though fully aroused, were left to the foe, and his 
agents, Davoust and Vandamme, were ready to crush out 
and punish every effort for patriotic action. The princes of 
the Rhine League were bound more closely than ever to Na- 
poleon, and hastened to his standard again. Thus the war 
began in the heart of Germany, and not on the frontier, and 
once more German was arrayed against German. The sit- 
uation of Saxony was peculiarly distressing. The king and 
the people had long clung to the conqueror, but now the 
general movement of the nation took strong hold upon their 
feelings. In imitation of York, General Thielemann attempt- 
ed, by a bold and independent stroke of his own, to force the 
king to embrace the cause of the allies. But all such efforts 
failed. The King, Frederick Augustus, was an honorable 
man, and much beloved by his people ; but he could not rise 
to the greatness of this emergency. He fled from his capital 
to the crown domains, and then to Regensburg and Prague, 
hoping to induce Bavaria and Austria to join Saxony in an 
alliance of neutrality, while he rejected the friendly ap- 
proaches of the Northern monarchs. On the other hand, Na- 
poleon afterward gave him his choice to decide for France 



624 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

within six hours, or to forfeit his crown ; and he embraced 
the cause of " his great ally." 

§ 11. On April 22 the allies made their formal entrance into 
Dresden, while Davoust retired, blowing up the fine bridge 
over the Elbe. But the fortresses of Wittenberg and Tor- 
gau were not taken. The delay was due to the commanders, 
especially to Kutusoff, the Russian general-in-chief, who real- 
ly thought it enough for Russia if Poland could be occupied 
and reclaimed, and had no desire to advance into Germany. 
He died at Bnnzlau on April 29, and Count Wittgenstein was 
made commander of the Russian troops ; but still the allies 
moved slowly. The Prussians murmured with impatience. 
York advanced from Berlin toward the Elbe. But he, too, 
was subordinate to Wittgenstein. His cool judgment, how- 
ever, with the fiery valor of his 12,000 Prussians, won the first 
victory of the campaign. At Mockern, near Burg, he met the 
troops of Eugene, the viceroy, which had crossed from Mag- 
deburg to the right bank of the Elbe. The French battalions 
were crushed by the Prussian charges ; the patriotic fervor 
of the people displaying itself with power on the battle-field. 
Wittgenstein now crossed the river, and scouting-parties of 
Prussians swept the Thuringian district; but there was still 
no proper readiness to meet Napoleon. 

§ 12. Napoleon organized a new army, with all his usual 
quickness and energy. The Senate voted him a new con- 
scription of 350,000 men from exhausted France, He also 
collected the forces of the Rhine Confederacy, and at the end 
of April was on the Saale, with about 125,000 men, only 5000 
of whom were cavalry. The allies had but 50,000 Russians 
and 40,000 Prussians to meet him, all under Wittgenstein 
as commander-in-chief. Several smaller conflicts tested the 
troops, before a general engagement was brought on. At 
Merseburg, part of the French army attacked a body of 
York's troops, under Lieutenant-Colonel Lobethal, on April 
29, and met a heroic resistance to their passage of the Saale; 
while other columns marched from Weissenfels into the plain 
near Liitzen, where Gustavus Adolphus was slain in 1632. 
Here, on the broad, level stretch of lowland, cut up by ditches 
and in many places marshy, was fought the first great battle 
of the year, May 2,1813. Napoleon's army was marching, 



Chap. XXIX. BATTLE OF LUTZEN. 625 

corps by corps, on its Avny to Leipsic, where the enemy was 
supposed to be, when the allies fell upon his right flank. The 
allies had but 69,000 men, the French 102,000 ; but the for- 
mer were much superior in cavalry and artillery, and the at- 
tack, planned by Scharnhorst, promised a splendid success. 
The fight was obstinate and bloody, especially around the 
village of Gross-GOrschen, Avhich the Prussians finally held. 
But through negligence the Russian reserve was not brought 
up, and the cavalry were scarcely used at all. The fury of 
I he fight fell entirely upon the Prussians. The decisive mo- 
ment of victory was lost by Wittgenstein's fault, and Napo- 
leon succeeded in gaining time gradually to gather superior 
numbers in front of the allies, and to extend his line beyond 
them. Thus the day closed, the Prussians expecting to re- 
new the conflict in the morning. But during the night the 
Emperor Alexander persuaded the King of Prussia, sorely 
against his wishes, of the necessity of retreating. The result 
was not a defeat of the allies, whose losses were far less than 
those of the French ; but since they withdrew, they left to 
Napoleon tlie moral weight of the first victory in the cam- 
paign. The Prussian volunteer army had behaved with sm*- 
prising valor and constancy, and the retreat was made with- 
out the loss of a wagon or a gun. The French gained nothing 
but a bloody and dearly bought battle-field. But the effect in 
Europe was great. Napoleon was now again secure of the 
Rhine Confederation for a time, and to his admirers again 
appeared invincible. 

§ 13. Saxony was now open to the French. The allies re- 
tired behind the Elbe, and Napoleon entered Dresden. The 
German army was depressed, but not dispirited. Its leaders 
saw that another battle was necessary to support their hopes 
and energies. A strong position was taken up, behind the 
steep hills along the upper waters of the Spree, at Bautzen, 
to check the advance of Napoleon, who was bringing on 
148,000 men against 96,000 of the allies. Here a battfe of 
extraordinary obstinacy and fierceness was fought for two 
days, on May 20 and 21. Again Napoleon won the field, 
though at a frightful cost, his loss being 20,000, and that of 
the allies but 12,000. His success was attributed to errors 
in the disposition of the allied forces, under the orders of the 

S s 



626 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

Czar. Here, too, the Prussians commanded the admiration 
of friends and foes by their uniform and steadfast bravery. 
Nor did the French take any prisoners or standards or guns. 
The allies simply continued their retreat in perfect order. 
The French entered Silesia, and occupied Breslau June 1. 
But Napoleon was growing weaker, while the strength of 
the allies was increasing. At Hainan, on May 26, a dash of 
Prussian cavalry took four hundred French prisoners and 
eighteen pieces of artillery, and did much to inspirit the al- 
lied army. Bliicher and Gneisenau were now confident that 
another battle must result in victory. Nor was it doubted 
that, after one successful battle, Austria would join the cause 
of the allies. But the Russians now began to think of a re- 
treat beyond the Oder, or even into Poland. In that case 
the Prussians could only go into the mountain region and 
the country of Glatz. The campaign had begun well, but all 
its results were in peril. 

§ 14. Napoleon now sought an armistice. He had suffered 
heavy losses, and his preparations were not complete. He 
had hopes of new triumphs, too, by statecraft. On the first 
day of battle at Bautzen he sent an envoy to Alexander, to 
try again the arts which he had used at Tilsit, and to detach 
him from Pinissia by large promises. But Alexander was 
faithful to his ally, and would not receive the envoy. Napo- 
leon also had hopes from Austria, and if he could win its 
support, his triumph was assured. He ofiered an armistice 
to Alexander, who would only accept it together with Prus- 
sia, and it was concluded at Pleisswitz, near Jauer, on June 4. 
The hostile armies were to be separated by a strip of neu- 
tral territory. It was first proclaimed for seven weeks, and 
afterward extended to August 17. 

§ 15. The one fear of all patriotic Germans now was lest 
the armistice should lead to a peace, with their chains but 
half removed. War was the cry of every class of the peo- 
ple in Prussia, nor was the government idle. The Prussian 
army was rapidly made complete, and Scharnhorst's regula- 
tions bore rich fruit. The militia came up from all the old 
provinces, and reinforced the regiments of the line. Supplies 
were collected and forwarded in abundance. New Russian 
detachments slowly marched out from the vast wastes of the 



Chap. XXIX. THE POLICY OF AUSTRIA. 62 V 

empire. Napoleon strengthened his exhausted army, too, 
and again brought it up to 350,000 men. Meanwhile both 
parties strove to secure a decisive preponderance by alli- 
ances, or at least to make certain the neutrality of other 
states. 

§ 16. Austria had taken no part in the struggle; and did 
not, like Prussia, regard it as a sacred war of emancipation. 
The people of Austria shared to some extent the national 
patriotic impulse, and even the emperor's brothers were 
influenced by it. But the enthusiasm of 1809 had died 
out, under the terrible disappointments which it met, and 
could not now be revived. Francis I., though Napoleon was 
now his son-in-law, still cherished a personal antipathy to 
him. But he shrank in terror before the popular fervor 
which fired the masses in North Germany, regarding it as 
Jacobinism and the beginning of revolution. Metternich 
was an admirer of Napoleon, and dreaded the ascendency of 
Russia, if France were humbled. He had no German pa- 
triotism, but was full of diplomatic cunning. From the first 
he saw that this was Austria's opportunity, holding the bal- 
ance of power in the conflict, and sure to be courted by 
both parties. His one purpose was to gain the greatest pos- 
sible advantage from this situation. His first step, when 
Napoleon's embarrassments began, was to " suspend " the 
French alliance of 1812, and to ofier the mediation of Austria ; 
which he finally tendered as an armed mediation, giving it 
much of the force of a threat to Napoleon. The opportunity 
was a most favorable one, not only to regain w^hat Austria 
had lost, but to acquire a great position and commanding 
dignity in Europe. The Emperor Francis came to Bohemia, 
and the allied monarchs made haste to ofier their friendship, 
and endeavored to win him to their cause by the prosjDect 
of the complete restoration of his former possessions and 
powei'. After the unsuccessful battle of Liltzen, Scharnhorst, 
though wounded, hastened for this purpose to Prague, then 
to Vienna, and back again. His exertions and agitation ag- 
gravated the effects of a wound that had seemed slight, and 
he died on June 28. About the same time Francis I. sent 
Metternich to Napoleon at Dresden. He demanded at that 
time scarcely more for Austria than the restoration of part of 



628 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

the Grand-Duchy of Warsaw, the abandonment by Napoleon 
of his annexations in North Germany made in 1810, and the 
extension of Prussia again to the Elbe. But Napoleon did 
not listen even to these modest demands, which would have 
left Germany in fetters. He dared not yield any thing he 
had acquired, lest such a display of weakness should lead to 
the dissolution of his whole empire. Nothing was decided 
on but a congress at Prague, in which Russia and Prussia, 
as well as France and Austria, should consult together as to 
terms of peace. Even this concession would not have been 
made by Napoleon but that, on the very morning of the day 
(June 30) on which the convention was signed, he received 
by express an account of the battle of Vittoria, in which 
Wellington destroyed the French power in the Spanish pen- 
■ insula. But Russia and Prussia were still resolute in their 
determination to free Germany from the sway of France, and 
Austria was so far in sympathy Avith them that, in view of 
Napoleon's obstinate purpose, no approach to a permanent 
peace was possible. 

§ 17. While the negotiations went on at Prague, another 
congress, of a more practical character, Avas held at Reichen- 
bach, where Alexander and Frederick William had their head- 
quarters. England was represented here, and joined the al- 
liance. The English armies had been uninterruptedly at war 
with France, and were already approaching the Pyrenees in 
Spain. Count Miinster represented England, and as the 
price of the alliance obtained the assurance that Hanover 
should not merely be restored, with its original boundaries, 
to the British crown, but should be increased by Hildesheim 
and East Friesland, formerly possessions of Prussia — a dear 
price to pay for subsidies to Prussia, which during the whole 
war amounted to scarcely $3,200,000. Austria, too, declared 
at Reichenbach that, if Napoleon should reject the terms of 
peace oifered at Prague, it would join the alliance. Berna- 
dotte, the Crown-Prince of Sweden, adhered to the allies, and 
obtained the promise of Norway, then belonging to Denmark. 
Thus all the powers, except Prussia, took care beforehand to 
secui-e to themselves the profits of victory ; but Prussia was 
fighting for existence, and though it was really to bear the 
brunt of the war, beyond any of the other powers, it secured 



Chap. XXIX. ARMIES OF THE FIFTH COALITION. 629 

by victory far less gain than glory. On the night of August 
10, rockets at Prague signaled the fact that Napoleon had 
rejected the mediation of Austria, and that Francis I. would 
thenceforth be a member of the coalition ; and the threat 
news was taken up and carried onward by bonfires from 
summit to summit of the Bohemian mountains. The Czar 
and the Prussian king watched anxiously, in a barn at Trach- 
enberg, until after midnight, when the signal was seen ; and 
the whole Silesian army broke out into expressions of joy 
and hope, friends embracing with tears, groups of soldiers 
shouting, and salvos of artillery rolling among the hills. On 
August 1 2 Austria declared war against France. 

§ 18. Thus, before the armistice closed, the fifth coalition 
of the European powers against Napoleon was completed, by 
his own want of wisdom in not yielding at the proper time. 
Prussia now placed in the field 270,000 men, Austria 260,000, 
and Russia 250,000, But these huge armies were not con- 
centrated, nor even in readiness, when hostilities began again. 
The Swedish force was trifling, and the British troops were 
in Spain under Wellington, while Napoleon was bringing 
every man he could reach into Germany, But at this time 
there were actually 530,000 men in arms against Napoleon, 
while he could command about 440,000, a difierence in force 
which was fully compensated for by the fact that the alliance 
had many heads, while Napoleon was the sole commander 
of all his troops and resources. The allies now had three 
armies : 

1. The Army of the North, under Bernadotte, composed of 
35,000 Prussians, troops of the line and militia, under Gen- 
erals Billow and Tauenzien ; of 12,000 Russian veterans, un- 
der WoronzofF and Winzegerode ; 25,000 Hanoverians, 24,000 
Swedes, and about 6000 German troops in the English serv- 
ice. The subordination of the Prussian generals to a foreign 
commander, who was inferior to them at least in zeal, was 
against Gneisenau's protest, Bernadotte was a burden to 
the cause. He was but half-hearted in it, being unwilling to 
embitter the French against him, and eager only for the in- 
terests of Sweden and his own ambition. Including a de- 
tached corps of 20,000, which guarded Hamburg, this army 
contained more than 120,000 men. 



630 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

2. The Army of Silesia, containing the veteran survivors of 
the Russian campaign, was raised during the armistice to 
160,000, but nearly half of them were sent into Bohemia in 
August to reinforce the Austrian army. Something more 
than 80,000 were left under Bliicher; 50,000 Russian troops, 
under Generals Sacken and Langeron, and York's corps of 
more than 30,000 Prussians. In place of Scharnhorst, Gnei- 
senau was now at Bliicher's side as chief of staff, and remain- 
ed there, rendering eminent services, until the war ended at 
Waterloo. 
■ 3. The Army of Bohemia, or the main body, was com- 
manded by the three monarchs in person, with the Austrian 
Field-marshal Schwarzenberg as general-in-chief, a man of 
noble character and skillful in diplomacy, but by no means 
a great military genius. The whole body of the Austrian 
troops, now ready, 120,000 strong, were with this army, be- 
sides Russians and Prussians, including the royal guard of 
both countries. After the arrival of the 80,000 troops from 
Silesia, it numbered about 230,000, among them 40,000 cav- 
alry of extraordinary efficiency. It lay north of Prague 
toward the frontier of Saxony, watching the passes of the 
mountains. 

Thus a great semicircle, drawn through Berlin, Breslau, 
and Prague, enveloped Napoleon on the north, east, and 
south, while he lay at the centre, in Dresden, seemingly dis- 
posed to await attack. It was originally designed that the 
Army of Bohemia should march against him, while the other 
armies should maintain an expectant attitude; but that, 
upon an attack by Napoleon upon any of the three armies, 
the other two should at once threaten his rear. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE EMANCIPATION OF GERMANY; NAPOLEON DRIVEN 
BEYOND THE RHINE. 

§ I . Kenewal of Hostilities ; Battle of Grossbeeren. § 2. Girard Defeated 
at Hagelberg. § 3. Battle of the Katzbach. § 4. General Attack on 
Dresden Repulsed. § 5. Vandamme Defeated at Kulm. § 6. Napoleon's 
Ditficidt Position. § 7. Battle of Dennewitz. § 8. Napoleon's Hesitation ; 
Bavaria Abandons him. § 9. Junction of Bliicher and Bernadotte. § 10. 
Napoleon Marches to Leipsic. § 11. The Allied Armies Surround him. 
§§ 12, 13. The First Day of the Battle of Leipsic. § 14. The Second Day ; 
Rest and Negotiations. § 15. The Third Day ; Napoleon Defeated. §16. 
The French Flight from Leipsic. § 17. Napoleon's Retreat to the Rhine. 
§ 18. Immediate Results of the Victory. § 19. Political Confusion in Ger- 
many. § 20. Fruitless Negotiations. 

§ 1. Hostilities were renewed at the end of the armistice, 
and, indeed, somewhat sooner. For Ltitzow's corps, attempt- 
ing to cross the Elbe to occupy the position assigned it by 
the armistice, was attacked, June 13, by Wirtemberg troops, 
under the command of the French general Fournier, at Kit- 
zen, and nearly destroyed. In return, the allies refused to 
carry out their agreement to supply the French garrisons 
upon the Oder with provisions, and Bliicher made use of the 
same pretext to seize upon Breslau, in the neutral territory 
between the armies, before the expiration of the truce. The 
main army of the allies immediately advanced toward Dres- 
den, across the Erz-Gebirge, while the Northern army, under 
Bernadotte, quietly awaited the expected movement of Na- 
poleon toward Berlin. 

For the French emperor steadily kept in view through- 
out this campaign the capture of the Prussian capital ; and 
his first step now was to send northward, for this purpose, 
three army corps, with Arrighi's cavalry, under Oudinot. 
South of Berlin there is a broad swampy district, difficult 
to pass. General Billow's purpose was to hold and defend 
the passes. But Bernadotte, who was commander-in-chief, 
thought it better to undertake the defense on the heights 



632 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

just south of the city, known as the Kreuzberg and Hasen- 
heide, and afterward even built a bridge across the Spree, 
below Berlin, intending to give up the city to the enemy. 
" What is Berlin ?" said he, in answer to Billow's earnest re- 
monstrances; "only a city." But it was the capital and 
heart of Prussia, and Billow declared that his bones might 
bleach before Berlin, but he would never cross that bridge. 
The Crown -Prince Bernadotte was compelled, on the ap- 
proach of Oudinot with 80,000 French, at least to make a 
semblance of holding the heights south of the city. But he 
delayed until the enemy had time to cross the swamps, and 
even attempted to draw back Tauenzien's corps close to the 
city. But the Prussian generals paid more regard to their 
own patriotism than to Bernadotte's orders. Tauenzieu held 
his position, and Billow resolved to attack the French. On 
August 23 they advanced in three columns through the 
wood at the northern end of which is the village of Gross- 
beeren, within ten miles of Berlin. If they could seize this 
village, they would have but an open, sandy plain between 
them and the capital, and could fight a battle with all the 
advantages of their numbers. But they were divided. Ber- 
trand marched on the right, meeting Tauenzien ; Regnier, in 
the centre, came upon Grossbeeren ; and Oudinot held the left. 
The village of Grossbeeren was the key of the situation, and 
was taken by the Saxons of Regnier's corps. But Billow 
made a resolute attack on them. His Pomeranian militia 
reversed their muskets, which had become wet in the long 
rain, and wielded them as clubs, and after a fierce struggle 
the village was retaken, and Regnier's corps scattered. Ou- 
dinot came up too late to help. Bernadotte did nothing to 
support Billow; but the battle was won and the capital 
saved by the Prussians, though Bernadotte claimed the honor 
of the day. Oudinot retreated, and was not pursued. This 
victory had a vast influence in encouraging the German peo- 
ple. Despondency gave way to cheerfulness in Berlin, and 
the citizens renewed their activity in supplying the troops 
and in caring for the wounded. A number of Saxon prison- 
ers had been taken, and many of them now begged to be re- 
ceived into the German army. But the absurdity of the 
system by which rank and honors were distributed was never 



Chap. XXX. VICTORIES OF THE ALLIES. 633 

more couspicuous than vvLeu the three allied monarchs con- 
ferred on the Crown-Prince of Sweden their highest orders 
of warlike merit " for his victory at Grossbeeren." 

§ 2. Xapoleon had ordered General Girard with 12,000 
men to move toward Berlin from Magdeburg, to support 
Oudinot. On the way, Girard heard of the defeat at Gross- 
beeren. While hesitating what course to take, he was sud- 
denly attacked in the rear at Hagelberg, on August 27, by 
an equal force of Prussians under General Hirschfeld of the 
Army of the North, almost all of them militia of the electoral 
marches. The issue was for a time doubtful, the raw Prus- 
sian troops wavering. But at length the battalions made a 
general charge, storming the enemy's positions with the bay- 
onet, not firing a shot, and, supported by Czernitcheff's Cos- 
sacks, threw the French back into the village, and there 
clubbed them with their muskets. Nearly the whole division 
was destroyed; the streets, the public square, and the pool 
were filled with corpses. Only some 1800 men escaped. 
The fierce passions of the Prussian common soldiers were 
never displayed with more energy than in this aflTair, whose 
results were of the highest importance. Davoust also was 
on the march fi-om Hamburg through Mecklenburg, against 
the Army of the North, and a corps of observation under 
Wallmoden was detached against him. But on hearing of 
the defeats at Grossbeeren and Hagelberg, he retreated, to 
become again the scourge of Hamburg. A small detachment 
of his troops had a skirmish with the rangers of Liitzow at 
Gadebusch, in which Theodore Korner, the minstrel of the 
war, was killed. 

§ 3. On August 26, three days after the victory at Gross- 
beeren, Bliicher, with the Army of Silesia, defeated Macdonald 
on the Katzbach, near Liegnitz, A number of swift mount- 
ain torrents run down the slope of the Riesen-Gebirge to the 
Oder, cutting with steep ravines the broad plateau over 
which runs the main road from Breslau to Dresden, by way 
of Liegnitz, Lowenberg, and Gorlitz. Bliicher occupied the 
neutral strip of territory, including Liegnitz, before the armis- 
tice ended. He then set off at once to attack Ney, who lay 
opposite his lines, and pressed him back. Napoleon, thinking 
himself safe for some days from any attack by the Army of 



634 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

Bohemia, hastened up with reinforcements, in hope of forcing 
Bliicher into an engagement, and thus brought 150,000 men 
together. But Blucher avoided a battle, in accordance with 
his plan, and fell back behind the Katzbach, the branch of 
the Oder on which Liegnitz stands. His operations involved 
a series of difficult marches and countermarches, under heavy 
]-ains, and caused much murmuring, especially at York's 
head-quarters. But the result vindicated his wisdom. Na- 
poleon was now called away by the necessity of protecting 
Dresden. Macdonald retained the corps of Ney and Lauris- 
ton, and Sebastiani's cavalry, in all about 80,000 men. Mac- 
donald advanced, but was surprised by meeting Bliicher, 
who also was advancing to attack him. Bliicher learned, 
while about to move against the French, that they had care- 
lessly begun to cross the ravines of the swollen Katzbach 
and Neisse. He took up a strong position east of these rivers, 
and the armies came together in a hand to hand fight, during 
a heavy rain, which concealed the field from the view even 
of the commanders. The superior passion and bodily strength 
of the Prussians soon decided the day. The French were 
thi'own into confused flight, and hurled back upon the ravine 
of the Neisse and into the swollen flood. The victory was 
complete, and its results were too great to be understood at 
once, even by the conquerors. The Russian general Sacken 
supported the Prussians admirably. On receiving the order 
to attack, he said, " Report to the general — Hurrah ! " In 
compliment to him, the battle was named that of the Katz- 
bach, on which was his position (August 26). The Russian 
general Langeron, who occupied a singularly strong position, 
abruptly refused to take part in the battle. This victory 
was won close to the ancient "Wahlstatt" where the Mon- 
gol invaders had been checked nearly six centuries before; 
and from this place Blucher took his title of " Prince of Wahl- 
statt." The most cordial understanding was immediately 
restored between him and his generals, especially York, and 
the enemy was pursued with vigor toward Saxony. In this 
battle the allies captured 103 guns and 18,000 prisoners. 

§ 4. But the main army met with no such good fortune in 
its attempt on Dresden. South of this city lies a broad plain, 
bounded by a torrent which breaks from the mountains at 



Chap. XXX. THE ALLIES DEFEATED AT DRESDEN. 635 

Pirna on one side, and by the spurs of the Erz-Gebirge on the 
other. In this plain meet the roads which cross the mount- 
ains from Bohemia, by which the Bohemian army entered 
Saxony, while Napoleon, not expecting its approach so soon, 
was still in Silesia. The allies expected to find the French 
near Leipsic, and lost time by a detour to the left, to the 
rear of Dresden, Yet the French were surprised, and prompt 
and resolute action might still have given Dresden to Schwar- 
zenberg, before Napoleon could return from his fruitless 
movement against Bliicher. But delays were made, until he 
had time to return and concentrate his forces in Dresden. 
On August 26 the allied forces made an attack with superior 
numbers, but were repulsed with great slaughter. The next 
day Napoleon drove back the right wing of the allies from 
the main road at Pirna, while Vandamme, with another corps, 
crossed the Elbe at Kunigstein, apparently in order to occu- 
py the high-road to Bohemia. The allies found themselves 
forced to retreat under great difficulties : either to regain 
that high-road (from Pirna to Teplitz) by following wretched 
cross-roads, or to cross the almost impassable mountain 
ridge. The battle had been on an enormous scale, and the 
allies had lost 30,000 men. The moral efl:ect of the defeat 
would probably have broken up the alliance, or at leas-t have 
decided the campaign, but for the great successes of Gross- 
beeren and Dennewitz. As it was, the armies on both sides 
were left in positions of great difiiculty, which called for the 
ablest generalship. Napoleon was still threatened on all 
sides by superior forces, which needed only a little time to 
recover their tone and again continue their operations. On 
the other hand, the main army of the allies was beaten and 
dispirited ; and might perhaps have been broken up and 
scattered if Napoleon had now acted with the same promjJt- 
ness and energy which he showed at Jena. 

§ 5. But Napoleon did not follow up his victory with vigor. 
He seems to have been in poor health, or at least much de- 
pressed by the tidings from his marshals before Berlin and 
in Silesia. He returned from Pirna to Dresden, and recalled 
two corps which had been ordered to pursue the allies along 
the high-roads. Only Vandamme's corps continued to ad- 
vance, according to Napoleon's orders, and in the confident 



636 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

expectation that he would send the Young Guard from Pirna 
to support it. But the emperor seems to have forgotten it. 
Vandamme, while descending the heights, on August 29, 
came upon the Russians, under General Ostermann and Prince 
Eugene of Wirtemberg. Every thing depended on keeping 
control of the mouths of the mountain passes, by which alone 
the retreat of the great allied army could be made. King 
Frederick William III. made every exertion to animate the 
troops. The Russians, only 15,000 in number, held out at 
Culm all day against the attack of twice their number. The 
valor of the Russian guard under Ostermann, whose left arm 
was carried away by a ball, and the skill of Eugene, proved 
successful, and they stood lirm until large reinforcements ar- 
rived. On the next day, August 30, Vandamme again at- 
tacked them, not suspecting that their force had been doubled. 
General Kleist, with a Prussian army corps, now arrived, 
and Avas ordered by the king to hasten to the valley of Tep- 
litz. But he was delayed by the bad roads, and hearing of 
the movement of Vandamme, and perceiving his opportunity, 
he boldly crossed to the great highway at Nollendorf, in the 
rear of the French, and thus cut off their only line of retreat. 
He now determined to move down upon the French posi- 
tion. But by this time Vandamme's lines were broken by the 
overwhelming attack of the allies on their left and front ; 
and they came in full retreat upon Kleist, Now ensued a 
scene of desperate conflict rarely equaled in the annals of 
war. But the condition of the French was desperate. Be- 
tween the two armies, Vandamme's corps was destroyed or 
dispersed. Their commander and 7000 men were taken pris- 
oners. The loss of the French in the two days at Culm was 
18,000 men ; that of the allies less than 5,000. Kleist's 
prompt and vigorous movement had decided the extent of 
the victory ; and the king afterward, in memory of this 
achievement, conferred on him the name Von Nollendorf 
Vandamme was himself captured and sent as a prisoner into 
the heart of Russia. 

§ 6. Thus Napoleon's victory at Dresden was neutralized 
by the misfortunes of his generals. It was not until Sep- 
tember that he could make a further demonstration toward 
Bohemia against the main army. His victory at Dresden 



\ 



Chap. XXX. THE BATTLE OF DENNEWITZ. 637 

had the effect of checking the advance of the armies of the 
North and of Silesia, and it dispirited the allied monarchs. 
When Napoleon seemed about to move into Bohemia, it was 
demanded that Bliicher should abandon his victorious ad- 
vance toward the Elbe, and bring most of the Army of Silesia 
over the mountains to reinforce the Bohemian army. Blii- 
cher, however, knew that this would be a serious error; that 
Napoleon was already caught in a net ; and that, if he should 
move against any one of the three armies, the others had but 
to advance and threaten his rear in order to check him. 
Bliicher was as shrewd as he was brave, and made the vic- 
tory of Dennewitz, of which the monarchs as yet were prob- 
ably ignorant, his excuse for neglecting the order, since that 
battle had entirely changed the situation. 

§ 7. The Army of the North had been nearly idle since the 
battle of Grossbeeren. The Prussian generals were extreme- 
ly indignant against Bernadotte, whose slowness and inaction 
were intolerable to them. It took them, under his orders, a 
fortnight to advance as far as a good footman could march 
in a day. They then unexpectedly met a new French army 
advancing against them from a fortified camp at Wittenberg. 
Napoleon had now assigned to Marshal Ney — " the bravest 
of the brave" — the work of beating "the Cossack hordes and 
the poor militia," and taking Berlin. Under him were Ou- 
dinot, Regnier, Bertrand, and Arrighi, with 70,000 men. On 
September 6 Tauenzien met their superior forces at Jiiter- 
bogk, but sustained himself valiantly through a perilous fight. 
Bernadotte was but two hours' march away, but as usual 
disregarded Billow's request to bring aid. But Biilow him- 
self brought up his corps on the right, and took the brunt of 
the battle, extending it through the villages south of Jiiter- 
bogk, of which Dennewitz was the centre. The Prussians 
took these villages by storm, and when evening came their 
victory was complete, though Bernadotte had not stretched 
out a hand to help them. The final stroke, by which the 
day was decided, was the advance of Borstell's Prussian bri- 
gade of reserves, at the last moment, contrary to Berna- 
dotte's orders. Thus 50,000 Prussians alone defeated a much 
larger number of the enemy, and Biilow bore the name of 
Dennewitz afterward in honor of his victory. Ney reported 



638 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

to his master that he was entirely defeated. Napoleon un- 
wisely ascribed his defeat entirely to the Saxons, who fought 
well that day for him, but for the last time. By his reproach- 
es he entirely alienated the people from him. The French 
loss in this battle was 10,000 killed and wounded, and 10,000 
prisoners, besides 80 guns. The Prussians lost in killed and 
wounded more than 5000. 

§ 8. Thus five victories had been won by the allies in a 
fortnight, compensating fully for the loss of the battle of 
Dresden. The way to the Elbe lay open to the Army of the 
North. But Bernadotte continued to move with extreme 
slowness. Billow and Tauenzien seriously proposed to Blii- 
cher to leave the Swedish prince, whom they openly de- 
nounced as a traitor. Bliicher approached the Elbe across 
the Lausitz from Bohemia, and it would have been easy to 
cross the river and unite the two armies, threatening Napo- 
leon's rear, and making Dresden untenable for him. Napo- 
leon advanced in vain against Blucher to Bausitz. The Prus- 
sian general wisely avoided a battle. Then the emperor 
turned against the Army of Bohemia, but it was too strong 
in its position in the valley of Teplitz, with the mountains in 
its rear, to be attacked. Then again he moved toward Blii- 
cher, but again failed to bring about an action. At this time 
public opinion throughout Europe was undergoing a rapid 
change, and Napoleon's name was losing its magic. The 
near prospect of his fall made the nations he had oppressed 
eager and impatient for it, and his German allies and subjects 
lost all regard and hope for his cause. On October 8 the 
Bavarian plenipotentiary. General Wrede, concluded a treaty 
with Austria at Ried, by the terms of which Bavaria left 
Napoleon and joined the allies. This important defection, 
though it had been for some weeks expected, was felt by the 
French emperor as a severe blow to his prospects. 

§ 9. Napoleon's circle of movement around Dresden began 
to be narrowed. The Russian reserves under Benningsen, 
57,000 strong, were also advancing through Silesia toward 
Bohemia. Blucher was therefore not needed in Bohemia, 
and he pressed forward vigorously to cross the Elbe. His 
army advanced along the right bank of the Black Elster to 
its mouth above Wittenberg. On the opposite bank of the 



Chap. XXX. NAPOLEON AT BAY. 639 

Elbe, in the bend of the stream, stands the village of Warten- 
burg, and just at the bend Bliicher built two bridges of boats 
without opposition. On October 3 York's corps crossed the 
river. But now on the west side, among the thickets and 
swamps before the village, arose a furious struggle with a 
body of 20,000 French, Italians, and Germans of the Rhine 
League under Bertrand. York displayed eminent patience, 
coolness, and judgment, and won a decided victory out of a 
great danger. Bernadotte, though with much hesitation, also 
crossed the Elbe at the mouth of the Mulde, and the army 
of the North and of Silesia were thus united in Napoleon's 
rear. 

§ 10. It was now evident that the successes of these armies 
had brought the French into extreme danger, and the allied 
sovereigns resolved upon a concerted attack. Leipsic was 
designated as the point at which the armies should combine. 
Napoleon could no longer hold Dresden, lest he should be 
cut off from France by a vastly superior force. The partisan 
corps of the allies were also growing bolder and more active 
far in Napoleon's rear, and on October 1 Czernicheff drove 
Jerome out of Cassel and proclaimed the Kingdom of West- 
phalia dissolved. This was the work of a handful of Cos- 
sacks, without infantry and artillery; but though Jerome 
soon I'eturned, the moral effect of this sudden and easy over- 
throw of one of Napoleon's military kingdoms was immense. 
On October 7 Napoleon left Dresden, and marched to the 
Mulde. Bliicher's forces were arrayed along both sides of 
this stream, below Diiben. But he quietly and successfully 
retired, on perceiving Napoleon's purpose to attack him, and 
moved westward to the Saale, in order to draw after him 
Bernadotte and the Northern army. The plan w\as success- 
ful, and the united armies took up a position behind the Saale, 
extending frohi Merseburg to Alsleben, Bernadotte occupying 
the northern end of the line next to the Elbe. Napoleon, dis- 
appointed in his first effort, now formed a plan whose bold- 
ness astonished both friend and foe. He resolved to cross 
the Elbe, to seize Berlin and the Marches, now uncovered, 
and thus, supported by his fortresses of Magdeburg, Stettin, 
Dantzic, and Hamburg, where he still had bodies of troops 
and magazines, to give the war an entirely new aspect. But 



640 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

the murmurs of his worn-out troops, and even of his generals, 
compelled him to abandon this plan, which was desperate, 
but might have been effectual. The suggestion of it terri- 
fied Bernadotte, whose province of Lower Pomerania would 
be threatened, and he would have withdrawn in headlong 
haste across the Elbe had not Blucher persisted in detaining 
him. Napoleon now resolved to march against the Bohemian 
army at Leipsic. On October 14, on approaching the city 
from the north, he heard cannon-shots on the opposite side. 
It was the advance guard of the main army, which was de- 
scending from the Erz-Gebirge range, after a sharp but in- 
decisive cavalry battle with Murat at the village of Liebert- 
wolkwitz, south of Dresden, 

§ 11. In the broad, thickly settled plains around Leipsic, 
the armies of Europe now assembled for the final and de- 
cisive conflict. Napoleon's command included Portuguese, 
Spaniards, Neapolitans, and large contingents of Germans 
from the Rhine League, as well as the flower of the French 
youth; while the allies brought against him Cossacks and 
Calmucks, Swedes and Magyars, besides all the resources of 
Prussian patriotism and Austrian discijiline. Never since 
the awful struggle at Chalons, which saved Western civiliza- 
tion from Attila, had there been a strife so well deserving 
the name of " the battle of the nations." West of the city 
of Leijisic runs the Pleisse, and flows into the Elster on the 
northwest side. Above their junction, the two streams run 
for some distance near one another, inclosing a sharp angle 
of swampy land. The great highway to Lindenau from 
Leipsic crosses the Elster, and then runs southwesterly to 
Liitzen and Weissenfels. South of the city and east of the 
Pleisse lie a number of villages, of which Wachau, Liebert- 
wolkwitz, and Probstheida, nearer the city, were important 
points during the battle. The little river Partha ap.proaches 
the city on the east, and then runs north, reaching the Elster 
at Gohlis. Napoleon occupied the villages north, east, and 
south of the city, in a small circle around it. The allied 
commanders eagerly sought to bring up the army of the 
North and of Silesia. The latter was still at Halle, but came 
forward in haste, while Bernadotte made pretexts for delay. 

§ 12. On October 16, York, with 21,000 men of Bliicher's 



Chap. XXX. FIRST DAY'S BATTLE AT LEIPSIC. 641 

army, stood at noon before the village of Mockern, northwest 
of the city, which was held by the French, Schwarzeuberg 
thought himself strong enough to make an attack from the 
south. The main gap in the allied lines on the east, where 
Bernadotte's Array of the North and Benningsen's reserves 
were to stand, was not yet closed. NajDoleon had an oppor- 
tunity to concentrate his troops to the number of 100,000, 
and to fall upon 60,000 of the allies on the south side, making 
sure of a decided victory. His opportunity was the greater, 
since Schwarzeuberg had thrown a very strong body of 
Austrians into the angle between the Elster and the Pleisse 
to attack the village of Konnewitz, which was successfully 
defended by Poniatowski ; and these troops could not easily 
bring help to the main body. Such a cannonade as had 
never been heard before was kept up on both sides from the 
early morning. The Austrians, Russians, and Prussians fought 
with extreme resolution for the possession of the villages 
of Wachau and Liebertwolkwitz, the former of which was 
three times taken and lost again. At noon Napoleon seemed 
sure of victory. In order to give the final, decisive stroke, 
he formed a mass of 8000 cavalry ; but their charge failed, 
the allies held their ground, and then their first reinforce- 
ments came up. Napoleon in vain awaited his marshals 
Marmont and Ney, who were held fast by the Army of Silesia, 
which was making an attack at Mockern. A final charge of 
infantry also broke upon the growing lines of the allies ; so 
that the day of Wachau closed without a victory for Na- 
poleon. 

§ 13. At the same time his marshals were defeated at 
Muckern by York, whose attack there saved the allies at 
Wachau from a great danger. Napoleon had not expected 
the Army of Silesia to reacli that point so soon. But Bliicher 
marched up rapidly from Halle, and while he, with Sacken 
and Langeron, moved to the left, York, with his Prussians, 
took the direct road to Schkeuditz and Leipsic. At Mockern, 
near the city, he found Marmont's corps, 20,000 strong, under 
orders from Napoleon to march to Wachau. York, who 
was stronger only in cavalry, attacked it, and one of the 
hardest village fights of the war took place around Mockern. 
Eveiy house or wall was used as a defense by one side or 

Tt 



(542 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

the other. The issue was long in doubt; but a cavalry 
charge of York on the heights left of the village proved de- 
cisive. The Prussian corps was reduced almost one half, 
but its valor decided the result both there and at Wachan. 
Had Bernadotte been prompt, Leipsic might perhaps have 
been seized from the north on that day. 

§ 14. October 17 was Sunday, and the armies rested. Ev- 
ery hour brought up fresh troops for the allies, whose cir- 
cle around Leipsic grew every where stronger. Napoleon's 
best and only chance, in a military point of view, would 
have been to press hard upon the allies on the south, before 
they could recover from the failure of their attack of the 
16th. But he had often escaped from dangers by bold di- 
plomacy, and hoped to do so now. He sent the Austrian 
general Merveldt, a prisoner of war, to his father-in-law, 
Francis I., and offered to accept the conditions which he had 
rejected at Prague. He reminded Francis of their relation- 
ship, and of the untrustworthiness of his Russian allies, who 
had failed to support him the day before, and strove to de- 
tach him from the allied cause by promises. But no answer 
was returned. The precious day was lost; while Bliicher, 
never quiet, pressed close to the city from the northeast, 
and Bernadotte placed his army in line. 

§ 15. On October 18, the decisive day of the battle of the 
nations at Leipsic, Napoleon still had about 150,000 m^n, 
while the allies had 300,000. On the evening of the iVth, 
still receiving no answer from the Austrian emperor, he be- 
gan his preparations for a retreat. But he did not move in 
time. He contracted his lines, reaching now from the Pleisse 
to Probstheida, forming an angle there, and thence in a 
curve to the north end of Leipsic. The allies assailed him 
on every side. The thunder of the heavy artillery, a thousand 
guns on each side, rolled without intermission from the early 
dawn. An Austrian army corps under the Prince of Hesse- 
Homburg attacked Poniatowski, between the Elster and the 
Pleisse, without a decisive result. But the main struggle 
took place further to the right, around Probstheida and 
Liebertwolkwitz. Here, under the eyes of the monarchs, 
Austrians, Russians, and Prussians, led by Barclay, Kleist, 
and Wittgenstein, vied with each other and with the heroic 



Chap. XXX. THl^: DECISIVE DAY AT LEIPSIC. 643 

French in valor, charging the angle of Napoleon's lines, while 
Napoleon himself, not far away, close to a windmill that was 
pierced with balls, and to a watchfire on which the earth 
was at times scattered by shots that fell near it, was con- 
ducting the movements of his men. Under successive charges 
and retreats, the corpses here were piled up in long ridges. 
If the allies could break through at this point, Napoleon was 
lost ; but his guards knew this, and fought in a spirit worthy 
of their fame. Probstheida was still held by them, while 
about noon Benningsen passed through the villages of Holz- 
hausen, Zuckelhausen, and Baalsdoi'f nearly to Leipsic. A 
little while afterward, Biilow led part of the Army of the 
North forward by way of Taucha and Paunsdorf At the 
same time, part of tlie Saxon artillery and infantry, about 
4000 strong, with 38 guns, came out of the French line 
of battle, and joined the Austrians, defying their general, 
Zeschau, who remained behind. Normann, with 600 men 
of Wirtemberg, came over somewhat earlier. Bernadotte, 
who was to attack from the north, had delayed as usual ; 
and, when pressed by his allies, demanded 30,000 men from 
the Army of Silesia before he would advance. Bliicher did 
not hesitate to take his place under this foreigner, though 
himself the oldest and most successful general in the allied 
armies, and thus took from Bernadotte every pretext for de- 
lay. But he did not follow the circuitous route by the bridge 
of Taucha which Bernadotte prescribed for him, but forded 
the Partha, though his troops sank to the middle in water, 
and made a direct attack on the village of Schonfeld, which 
was bravely defended by Marmont. A fierce contest was 
maintained here and in the burning villages on both sides 
until evening. Biilow advanced beside Bliicher from Pauns- 
dorf, and forced his way almost into Leipsic, on the north- 
east side. Napoleon narrowly escaped seeing his triangle 
broken into, both from north and south, and his retreat from 
the corner at Probstheida cut oft'. When evening fell upon 
the vast battle-field strewn with the dead and wounded vic- 
tims of his ambition, his fall was decided. Schwarzenberg 
brought the news of the victory to the three monarchs, who 
together fell on their knees to thank God. It was dark night 
when Napoleon returned to Leipsic. The retreat had already 
begun, and was continued all night by moonlight. 



644 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

§ 16. On the morning of October 19 the allies attacked 
Leipsic on every side. Napoleon struggled only to secure 
his retreat. Billow's rangers and the Konigsberg battalion 
forced their way into the city at noon, two hours after the 
emperor had left, and while the French were still in slow re- 
treat through the streets. The confusion of the defeated 
army now became universal, and in the flight the emperor 
himself found it diflicult to make his way through. In the 
panic the bridge over the Elster was prematurely blown up, 
leaving behind nearly 20,000 men and 200 guns in the hands 
of the allies. Poniatowski, whom Napoleon had made a mar- 
shal on the battle-field, attempted to cross the Elster 'with 
his horse, but w^as carried away by the current and drowned. 
Regnier and Lauriston were taken. Alexander and Fred- 
erick William III. entered Leipsic the same day, amid the 
acclamations of the people. The King of Saxony was sent 
as a prisoner to Berlin. A shout of triumph went through 
all Germany over this great deliverance. But it was dearly 
bought. The thousands of wounded were wasted by fever, 
hunger, and exposure, and means of caring for so many were 
wanting. The losses of the French during the three days of 
battle were more than 50,000 men killed and wounded ; and 
250 cannon, and 30,000 men, with 21 generals, fell into the 
hands of the allies. The losses of the allies were 42,590 men 
killed and wounded. 

§ 17. Napoleon, having about 100,000 men left, continued 
his flight to the Rhine with little annoyance ; for the pursuit 
of the allies was slow. York's corps alone was thrown upon 
his flank, by way ofMerseburg, and overtook him, first at the 
passage of the Unsti'utt at Freiburg, and afterward near Ei- 
senach ; yet it inflicted no great loss upon the French. It 
was not until he reached the Main that he met with serious 
resistance. On October 8 Bavaria had abandoned Napoleon 
and the Rhine Confederacy, binding itself to Austria and the 
allies by the treaty of Ried. By this treaty Austria guaranteed 
to Bavaria the frontiers granted it by Napoleon, except the 
Tyrol, for which a compensation was to be made elsewhere, 
and recognized its entire independence, so that the German 
Empire could not be reconstituted after the peace. Tliis 
treaty gave a sort of assurance to all the states of the Rhine 



Chap. XXX. RESULTS OF THE VICTORY. 645 

Confederacy that they would be treated with consideration. 
Bavaria now strove to wipe out the remembrance of itslono- 
liumiliation by a bold dash against its late French master. 
At Hanau, General Wrede attempted to check "the wounded 
lion." But Napoleon gathered his last strength, and broke 
through the Bavarian lines, though with heavy loss (October 
30 and 31). He then crossed the Rhine, while the remnants 
of his grand army slowly and by various routes came to its 
eastern bank. 

§ 18. Immediately after the battle of Leijjsic, Billow march- 
ed to Noith Germany, to occupy the territories west of thfe 
Elbe which had been taken from Prussia. The Kingdom of 
Westphalia went to pieces at once ; for on October 26 King 
Jerome fled from Cassel, never to return. Before the year 
ended the Elector of Hesse, the Duke of Oldenburg, and the 
Duke of Brunswick, the hero of 1809, were welcomed back to 
their capitals by their people. Billow took possession of 
Minden, Miinster, and East Friesland. Dantzic, however, un- 
der the French general Raj^p, held out until January 1,1814. 
The cruel Davoust still occupied Hamburg, where, in order 
not to run short of supj^lies in the winter, he drove out 
25,000 of the poor inhabitants into cold and hunger. He at 
length set up the standard of the Bourbons, and capitulated 
on easy terms. May 31, 1814. All the other fortresses fell in 
the spring of 1814. Bernadotte, after the battle of Leipsic, 
marched against the King of Denmark, took possession of 
Schleswig and Holstein, and extorted from him the Peace of 
Kiel, January 15, 1814, by which Sweden obtained Norway 
in exchange for Lower Pomerania and Riigen. 

§ 19. The Rhine now separated France from its enemies. 
There had as yet been hardly a thought given to the recov- 
ery of any German territory beyond that river. Even Korner 
in his songs thinks only of reaching the Rhine. Ernest Mau- 
rice Arndt was the first to cry out expressly that " the Rhine 
is a German river, not a German boundary." All was still 
confusion in regard to the future constitution of the German 
nation. Patriotic men were loath to consent that the princes 
who had formed Napoleon's Rhine Confederation should enjoy 
in quiet the rewards they had obtained from him, and should 
hereafter have that independent sovereignty which they had 



646 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

never had under the ancient empire, and much less under Na- 
poleon's " protectorate." There was still little practical in- 
sight into the statesmanship needed for the day, and a super- 
stitious longing prevailed in most minds for the restoration 
of the empire in its old form. But Austria itself had made 
thi» impossible, by guaranteeing to Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Ba- 
den, and the rest of the principal members of the league, the 
independent sovereignty which Napoleon had promised them. 
A central authority was established, indeed, for the control 
in war of the armies of these states, and for the conduct of 
their military affairs in common, and was placed in the hands 
of Stein. But he found among them much opposition to the 
cause, especially in Wirtemberg, where the king, Frederick, 
was deeply dissatisfied with the defection of his troops at 
Leipsic, and afterward actually wrote to Napoleon that he 
hoped soon again to come under his victorious banner. 

§ 20. Fi-ankfort-on-the-Main was now the place of meeting 
of the three great allied monarchs. Hither came jDrinces 
to secure their territories ; generals to denounce the princes 
who had fought against their country ; and, above all, diplo- 
matists, who were now to take the control of events. Na- 
poleon's embassador, St. Aignan, here received from the Em- 
peror Francis II. the offer of terms which would have been 
most ruinous to Germany, by which France was to remain 
entire in its "natural boundaries," the Pyrenees, the Alps, 
and the Rhine. Napoleon, blind to his own weakness, per- 
sisted in demanding also Holland and Italy. Stein and Blii- 
cher took the lead in insisting on the prosecution of the war, 
and their influence, sustained by the voices of all German 
patriots, prevailed. Stein persuaded the Czar Alexander to 
consent, and the Czar prevailed on Frederick William III. 
Austria had gained its objects, and yielded only with ex- 
treme reluctance to the demand for a continuance of the war. 
Thus, at the end of 1813, it was fully determined to ci'oss 
the Rhine, and to carry the war into France. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE FINAL OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON AND THE CONGRESS 
OF VIENNA. 

§ 1. Germany United against France. § 2. The Invasion of France. § 3. 
Strength of the Armies. § 4. Success and Slow Advance of the Allies. 
§ 5. Napoleon's Five Days of Victory. § 6. Negotiations. The Quadruple 
Alliance. § 7. Napoleon Defeated at Laon. § 8. The Advance to Paris. 
§ i). The Bourbons Restored. § 10. Festivals in Paris and London. The 
Bourbon Policy. § 11. Congress at Vienna. Return of Napoleon. § 12. 
Eui-ope Arms against him. § 1 3. Prussia's Preparations. § 14. The Cam- 
paign Opens in Belgium. § 15. The Battle of Ligny. § 16. Bliicher's 
March to Join Wellington. § 17. Battle of Waterloo. § 18. The Second 
Peace of Paris. § 1 9. Napoleon Sent to St. Helena. § 20. Principles of 
the Congress of Vienna. § 21. Its Decisions Concerning Austria. § 22. 
Its Grants to Prussia. § 23. The Gains of Bavaria and Hanover. § 24. 
The German Confederation Founded. § 25. Effect of the War on German 
Patriotism. The "Holy Alliance." 

§ 1. The patriotic zeal of the German people for their 
fatherland rapidly extended through the states of the Rhine 
Confederacy ; and the hereditary princes who had been most 
zealous in the service of Napoleon, one and all, except the 
King of Saxony, were speedily brought into the alliance for 
emancipation. For the first time in six hundred years the 
whole of Germany now united in one national enterprise, the 
war against Napoleon. But the fervor of the popular feeling 
met with no adequate appreciation or guidance among their 
rulers and commanders, and was often chilled or neutralized 
by jealousies, divisions, and delays in high places. The nation 
had no national oi'ganization or unity, and it therefore achieved 
no brilliant results — nothing worthy of the destinies it had 
at stake. The immediate work before it was indeed accom- 
plished : Napoleon was overthrown ; but this was done in 
spite of errors and the conflicts of rival interests, through 
the efticiency of individual commanders and the overwhelm- 
ing superiority of forces, and was not the achievement of 
any worthy national organization. 



648 HIbTOKY OF GERMANY. Buok V. 

§ 2. More than half a million of men now stood ready to 
invade France. The allied monarchs issued a proclamation 
at Frankfort (December 1, 1813), declaring that their war 
was against Napoleon alone, and not against the French 
people ; that they had no designs of conquest, but were com- 
pelled by Napoleon's threatening conscription to invade 
France ; that they would however guarantee to that country 
an extension greater than it had enjoyed under the kings, 
and desired to see it "great, strong, and happy;" wishing 
only to destroy the preponderance which Napoleon had 
arrogated to himself in Europe. At the beginning of the 
year 1814 Schwarzenberg was already on his slow march 
through Switzerland toward France, while Billow Avas en- 
gaged in besieging and taking the fortresses in the Nether- 
lands. Blucher's forces, the former Army of Silesia, with 
Generals York, Sacken, and Langeron, crossed the Rhine at 
Caub at midnight of December 31st, 1813, and entered France. 
It was the fourteen -hundredth anniversary of the night in 
which the Vandals, Suevi, and Burgnndians crossed the same 
river at the same place, an event which Gibbon regards as 
" the fall of the Roman Empire in the countries bej^ond the 
Alps ;" and the German invasion now signalized the fall of 
the mightiest empire of the modern world. This army ad- 
vanced rapidly up the Moselle, through Lorraine, to the 
Marne and Aube. The great army under Schwarzenberg, 
composed of the choicest troops of the three powers, with 
the contingent of Bavaria, Wirtemberg, and Baden, and ac- 
companied by the monarchs and the diplomatists, slowly ad- 
vanced to the plateau of Langres, from which the rivers 
Seine, Aube, and Marne flow down toward the plain on 
which Paris stands, and from which several great highways 
run to Paris along these three streams. Here at the be- 
ginning of February a partial junction was made with Blu- 
cher's army, which came from the northeast, and then took 
the lead in the advance. Napoleon had not expected an in- 
vasion of France before spring. He was taken by surprise, 
and was unprepared. A few weeks would have been enough 
to enter Paris. 

§ 3. During this advance it was necessary to leave de- 
tachments before the fortresses passed, and the allies had a 



Chap. XXXI. THE INVASION OF FRANCE. 649 

force of but 130,000 men on the march. Napoleon had, to 
oppose them, a nominal army of 200,000, but its eflective 
force was scarcely half so large. His troops were mostly 
young soldiers, and many of them hated the service, and 
were ready to desert their standards at the first attack. The 
national enthusiasm of the French people was still a terror to 
Europe ; but Napoleon had now crushed their freedom, and 
dared not throw himself upon them again. Thus he began 
the struggle with but weak resources. Yet at the head- 
quarters at Langres there was still much discussion as to the 
propriety of an advance. Many voices were for peace, even 
those of King Frederick William and Hardenberg. The re- 
lationship of Napoleon to the court of Austria had an influ- 
ence on the policy of that empire. But Alexander insisted 
on prosecuting the war. Precious time, however, was lost, 
and Napoleon was enabled to recruit his army afresh. 

§ 4. At the end of January, 1814, Napoleon was at Chalons 
with his army, hoping to throw it between Blucher and 
Schwarzenberg. On January 29 he attacked Blucher at 
Brienne, on the Aube, but without a decisive result. By a 
singular freak of fortune, both commanders ran an imminent 
risk of capture. Blucher retreated a little way, towai'd Bar- 
sur-Aube, when Schwarzenberg joined him with heavy rein- 
forcements ; among them Bavarians under "Wrede, and Wir- 
terabergers under their patriotic crown-jjrince. But Blucher 
retained the command-in-chief Napoleon, with about 40,000 
men, was attacked on February 1 at La Rothiere, by a force 
nearly twice as great, and was defeated, after a severe fight, 
in which the village was repeatedly taken and lost again by 
the allies. The French army was thrown into confusion, 
and France had not the resources to raise another. A vigor- 
ous advance of the allies at this time must have ended the 
war. But hesitation again seized upon the commanders. It 
was believed to be impossible to obtain food and forage for 
so large a body of troops, and on tlie day after the victory 
the army was divided. Only the restless and earnest Blucher 
was sent toward Paris by Arcis and Chalons, while Schwar- 
zenberg and the royal head-quarters stood still, or crept 
slowly forward by way of Troyes. 

§ 5. Blucher sent forward York on the great highway 



650 HIlSTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

through Epernay and Chateau Thierry, along the Marne ; 
and Sacken on the left, on the lower highway, by Avay of 
Etages and Montiuirail. OlsuwieiF folio wed Sacken, and then 
came Bliicher himself, supported by Kleist. It was sup- 
posed that the main arnij'^ was advancing down the Seine, 
and the march was conducted negligently, without appre- 
hension of danger. But Napoleon had gathered his forces, 
and quickly seized the opportunity. He fell upon the flank of 
the allies, on February 10, at Champaubert, captured Olsuwieif 
with two thousand men and sixteen guns, and took up a posi- 
tion between Sacken and Bliicher, Sacken had reached Mont- 
mirail, where Napoleon next day attacked him (February 
11). He was in extreme danger of destruction, when York 
came up, and took the brunt of Napoleon's attack. Under 
cover of his defense, the two corps, by a difficult cross-road, 
made their way to Chateau Thierry on the Marne, February 
12, but with heavy loss of men and guns, especially in crossing 
the Marne. Napoleon believed that he had crippled York's 
forces, and swiftly turned upon Bliicher, at Etages and Vau- 
charaps (February 14), and drove him back with a loss of 
four thousand men. These five days of victory were among 
Napoleon's most brilliant achievements, and restored to him 
all his proud confidence in himself, besides reawaking the 
enthusiasm of the French for him. He led his, Russian pris- 
oners and the captured guns in triumph through the streets 
of Paris, and called on the people, who seemed ready to rise 
once more in his behalf But he magnified his successes, and 
threw away his opportunity of making peace and retaining 
the empire of France. 

§ 6. The Army of Silesia, which had been distinguished for 
its efficiency and activity, seemed to be destroyed. Napo- 
leon now threw himself (February 18), with thirty thousand 
men, upon the advance guard of the main army, under Prince 
William of Wirtemberg, which was at Montereau, at the 
junction of the Seine and Yonne. This detachment was but 
ten thousand strong; and it was with difficulty that it es- 
caped destruction, and fell back to Troyes. At Schwarzen- 
berg's request, Bliicher too came thither (February 19), hav- 
ing collected his troops in admirable order and spirits, so 
that there was again a force superior to the enemy. Yet 



Chap. XXXI. THE QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE 651 

Schvvarzeiiberg continued his retreat to Bar-sur-Aube and 
even to Chaumont. The weak-spirited among the Russians 
and Prussians, with the whole Austrian party, were now 
more clamorous than ever for peace. A Peace Congress met 
at Chatillon on February 5, where Napoleon was represented 
by a plenipotentiaiy, Caulincourt, his minister of foreign 
affairs. It was agreed that he should continue to be emper- 
or of France, if he would accept the boundaries of 1792. 
But, fortunately for Europe, his military successes led him to 
make larger demands. The allies agreed that peace with 
him was impossible, and at Chaumont, March 1, the Quadru- 
ple Alliance was signed between Austria, Prussia, Russia, and 
Great Britain, by which they agreed to free Europe from 
Napoleon's oppression, and not to treat with him save in 
union. It was determined that the allied forces should again 
be divided : Bliicher should march northward, take up the 
Russian corps of Winzingerode, and form a junction with 
Billow, who should come to him from Holland; the main army 
would advance on the high-roads along the Mai'ne and the 
Seine. Paris was the aim of both armies. Bliicher and Bil- 
low, together with the Russian corps, had a force of a hundred 
thousand men, which alone was superior to Napoleon's army. 
Bliicher held the command, and pressed forward with energy. 
§ V. The troops of the main array were much dispirited by 
the continued retreat. The Russian and Prussian monarchs 
therefore insisted on a battle. On the night of February 27 
Napoleon received the startling news that Bliicher was ad- 
vancing along the Marne toward Paris. He at once saw his 
danger and hastened in pursuit. On the same day, February 
27, Marshal Oudinot, whom he had left behind, was attacked 
at Bar-sui--Aube by a force twice as great as his own, and 
was driven back with loss. Bliicher marched down the 
Marne, spreading dismay on every side, and giving the lie to 
Napoleon's bulletins of victory. Marshals Marmont and 
Mortier rapidly retreated to Meaux, within twenty-five miles 
of Paris. But Bliicher, eager to join Biilow before attacking 
the capital, turned away from the Marne to Aisne. Napoleon 
made all haste to overtake him before the junction, but in 
vain. On March 2 Bliicher and Biilow met at Soissons. The 
best troops of the war were now together, led by the victors 



652 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

of the Katzbach and Dennewitz. Napoleon came up swiftl}', 
through Rheims, toward Laon, which the allies occupied just 
in time to anticipate him. Bliicher was extremely ill, and 
the troops were led with less spirit and skill than before. 
Napoleon fell upon the Russians at Craonne, and defeated 
them after a bloody resistance. He then attacked Biilow 
with all his^energy at Laon, March 9, but could not dislodge 
him. On the evening of the same day, Marmont's corps, 
which had been brought from Rheiras to attack Billow's left 
flank, was attacked in the darkness by York at the village 
of Athies, and nearly destroyed. By this brilliant achieve- 
ment of York, forty-six cannon and two thousand five hundred 
prisoners were taken. But Napoleon continued the fight 
with restless energy throughout the next day and into the 
night. On March 1 1th he retired in the direction of Soissons, 
and on the 13th suddenly appeared before Rheims, where 
he surprised and destroyed the Russian corps of St. Priest. 
Rheims was the last town Napoleon ever took ; and the af- 
fair exhibited his genius at its height. With an army that 
had been beaten in a hard-fought battle only two days before, 
he gained a decisive victory, in which his enemies lost at 
least three thousand five hundred men, and he less than a 
fourth of that number. After resting four days at Rheims, 
where he was reinforced by General Janson with six thousand 
men, he hastened to the Aube, and on March 20, with a force 
of about thirty thousand, attacked Schwarzenberg and the 
main army, of at least twice his strength, at Arcis-sur-Aube. 
But the attack was an utter failure, and only the negligence 
of the pursuit saved him from destruction. His resources 
were exhausted. 

§ 8. The armies of Schwarzenberg and Bliicher now march- 
ed upon Paris. The Peace Congress at Chatillon was aban- 
doned. No further negotiations were held with Napoleon, 
whose deposition was determined on. He resolved on des- 
perate measures. He attempted to fall upon the rear of the 
allies, so as to cut off their communications with Germany, 
and called on the people to rise in a war of extermination 
against the invaders. He still hoped that the allies would 
turn back from Paris to meet him. The allied sovereigns 
were surprised by the report of a Cossack spy : " The emperor 



Chap. XXXI. PALL OF NAPOLEON. 663 

is retreating, not on Paris, but on Moscow." But iinder the 
urgent advice of Alexander of Russia their ai-niies continued 
to advance steadily. At Fere Champenoise, between Vitry 
and La Ferte, on March 24, Marmont and Mortier made one 
more desperate effort at resistance. They were defeated with 
the loss of half their army, and the way to Paris was open. 
The allies reached the capital without further hinderance. 
The last battle was fought at the very barriers of Paris, 
where Marshals Mortier and Marmont occupied the heights 
with 30,000 men and 150 cannon (March 30). After one of 
the bloodiest struggles of the war, Montmartre was taken by 
storm, and in the evening the city capitulated. 

§ 9. On March 31, 1814, after issuing a iDroclamation, prom- 
ising, in the name of Europe, peace and good government to 
France, the sovereigns of Russia and Prussia made their en- 
try into Paris at the head of 36,000 troops. The conduct of 
the soldiers was orderly and forbearing; no revenge was taken 
for the oppression they had suffered at home. When Napo- 
leon learned that the allied armies would not turn eastward 
to follow him, he hastened to Fontainebleau, but it was too 
late to enter Paris. He now offered to abdicate in favor of 
his son. But all negotiations with him were refused until he 
made his abdication unconditional. He Avas soon deserted 
by nearly all his followers, and, in a fit of deep despondency, 
he attempted suicide by poison (April 12). Failing in this, 
he at length resolved to content himself with the sovereignty 
of the island of Elba, granted him by the allied monarchs. 
After long hesitation, the victors decided to restore the Bour- 
bons to the throne of France. The fickle Parisians, indeed, 
who, after i-eceiving the proclamation of the allies, Avelcomed 
their troops to the capital with wild applause, seemed now 
to desire the return of their former masters, and Louis XYHL, 
brother of Louis XVI., who had been put to death, was 
brought back- to the Tuileries as hereditary king. On his 
way through Southern France to embark for Elba, Xapoleon 
was met by ever stronger proofs that the people of France 
were thoroughly alienated from him, and more than once his 
life was actually in peril from the fury of the mob. Only his 
conquerors treated him now with kindness, and it was in the 
disguise of their uniform that he escaped the vengeance of 



654 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

his own people. The first Peace of Paris was signed May 
30. France was restored to the boundaries of 1792, includ- 
ing, beyond the limits of 1789, only Nice, Savoy, and Avignon, 
and the German frontier towns of Saarlouis and Landau. A 
constitution was formed, securing the essential liberties of 
the people. No war contributions were levied, and the plun- 
dered treasures of art were not even taken back from Paris, 
save that the "Victory," or triumphal car, was restored to 
the Brandenburg Gate at Berlin. These terms of unparallel- 
ed moderation and generosity were secured for France main- 
ly through the influence of the Emperor Alexander; and 
meanwhile, after continuous and wasting wars for a score of 
years, the troops of twenty nations rested quietly in Paris 
beside the discharged veterans of Napoleon. 

§ 10. A grand review of the allied troops was held in Paris, 
May 20, by the sovereigns of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, 
who in July following, on the invitation of the Prince Regent, 
visited England, and were received with suitable honors. 
Blucher, who attended them, was welcomed as a popular 
hero. In this visit. Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, then a 
young officer of the Prussian array, was invited to take part, 
as the guest of an English nobleman, who observed that the 
youth was charmed by the beauty of an English lady, but 
was too poor to follow her to London. This accident led to 
the subsequent acquaintance of Leopold with the Princess 
Charlotte, whom he married, and through this connection 
with the British royal house brought him the offer of the 
crown of Greece, and made him King of Belgium. In conse- 
quence of his elevation, one of his nephews married a prin- 
cess of Portugal, and rose to be regent and king of that coun- 
try ; and another married the Queen of Great Britain, and 
became the " father of her kings to be." In June, 1814, or as 
he called it, " the nineteenth year of our reign," King Louis 
XVIII. "granted" to the French people a new constitution, 
in itself, perhaps, as liberal as could exist side by side with an 
hereditary throne ; but the manner of promulgating it was 
arrogant and offensive to the democrats. As if to secure the 
hostility of the army and of the military spirit among the 
people, and to make the contrast of their present humiliation 
with the "glories" of Napoleon's reign as impressive as pos- 



Chap. XXXI. THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA. 655 

sible, the government abolished the national flag and the im- 
perial eagles, changed the numbers of the regiments and the 
titles of their oflicers, and sent the Old Guard out of Paris. 
The intellectual strength of the nation was similarly alien- 
ated from the new king by his restoration of the services and 
usages of the Roman Church, and of all the obsolete tradi- 
tions of the ancient monarchy. In short, the Bourbon gov- 
ernment prepared the way for Napoleon's return, by demon- 
strating the truth of his own sarcasm on their race, that 
" they learn nothing and foi'get nothing." 

§ 11. In the autumn of 1814, princes, diplomatists, and gen- 
erals assembled in large numbers in the Congress of Vienna, 
beginning November 18, to consult and determine upon a 
new arrangement of European affairs, and to distribute the 
enormous spoils of Napoleon's empire. As soon as the claims 
and demands of the several powers were heard, discords and 
jealousies, like those which had so much prolonged the cam- 
paign of 1814, broke out afresh. Russia demanded the whole 
of Poland ; Prussia, the whole of Saxony. Talleyrand, in be- 
half of France, supported England and Austria in resistino- 
these demands, and before the end of 1814 the breach grew 
so wide that both parties began active preparations for war. 
A secret treaty of oflfensive and defensive alliance was signed 
between England, France, and Austria, February 3, 1815, and 
Hanover, Bavaria, and Piedmont joined it soon afterward, all 
resolving to resist the aggrandizement of the Northern pow- 
ers. Of these events, and of the general discontent in France 
with the new government, Napoleon at Elba was well in- 
formed, and they no doubt inspired him with a hope of re- 
turning to France. But Russia and Prussia withdrew a large 
part of their demands, and there was an immediate prospect 
of reconciling the differences in the Congress, when, on Feb- 
ruary 26, 1815, Napoleon ventured on the hazardous step of 
leaving Elba. On March 1 he landed on the French coast, 
near Antibes, east of Cannes. He had with him but 400 of 
his Old Guard, 400 infantry, 100 Polish lancers, and 25 guns. 
But the army and the people of France at once embraced 
his cause. Marshal Ney was sent against him, but at Lyon.s 
deserted to him; and on March 20 Napoleon was again in 
Paris, the Bourbons havino; fled. 



656 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

§ 12. On the evening of March 5 the Empress of Austria 
entertained the monarchs of the Congress at her court with 
an exliibition of tableaux vivants, illustrating the history of 
the empire. While the jjarty were gazing on a romantic 
scene, the first meeting of Maximilian I. and Mary of Bur- 
gundy — an event to which all the greatness of the house of 
Hapsburg may plausibly be ascribed — the news suddenly 
arrived that Napoleon had escaped from Elba. Three days 
later an Italian courier brought word that he had landed in 
France. The Congress of Vienna, for the time, disappeared; 
all Europe sprang to arms ; and the eight allied powers, in- 
cluding Sweden, Spain, Portugal, and the French monarchy, 
put their ban upon Napoleon, declaring him the enemy of the 
public peace, and out of the protection of the law. Napoleon, 
indeed, offered the most ample assurances that he had no de- 
signs of conquest, but wished merely to rule France peace- 
ably in the limits last assigned. But no confidence could be 
placed in his word. Armies were collected in haste. En- 
gland first entered the field, sending out its troops from Ant- 
werp through the newly formed kingdom of the Netherlands 
(Holland and Belgium). Wellington was their commander: 
he had already had much experience in fighting against Na- 
poleon in Spain. Less than half his army were English and 
Scots, the rest were from the Netherlands, Hanover, Bruns- 
wick, and Nassau. Among his auxiliaries Frederick William 
of Brunswick was ijrominent. From his little territory of 
1300 square miles he brought 6000 men, who wei-e distin- 
guished by a black uniform and the death's-head badge. 
Meanwhile the Vienna Congress reassembled without delay, 
and its deliberations and decisions were far more rapidly con- 
ducted than before Napoleon's return. But its most impor- 
tant service to mankind was doubtless that which is least re- 
membered : the joint declaration of the European poM'ers, 
obtained February 8, 1815, by the persistent eftbrts of En- 
gland, of their abhorrence for the slave-trade, and their deter- 
mination that it be suppressed. This was soon followed by 
treaties with different powers, putting an end to the traflSc in 
their dominions. 

§ 13. Of the Continental powers, Prussia was the first to 
be ready for war. Its newly formed province west of the 



Chap. XXXI. NAPOLEON'S EAPID MOVEMENTS. 657 

Rhine was threatened, and the few troops ah-eady there were 
rapidly reinforced. Bliicher was placed in command, with 
Gneisenau to assist him. He had four army corps, under 
Pirch, Thielemann, Ziethen, and Bulow : in all about 150,000 
men, most of them young troops, newly organized, and not 
well supplied. Behind these British and Prussian forces the 
great armies of the allied powers were gradually gathered ; 
while an Austrian army advanced into Italy against Murat, 
who was one of the chief conspirators for Napoleon's return. 
§ 14. Napoleon's first act was to restore to his regiments 
their old numbers, associated with so many triumphs, and 
their imperial eagles, with all the ceremony and pomp he 
could devise. He also contrived successive and animating 
appeals to the people. His only chance of success against 
forces so overwhelming was to re-establish the belief in his 
invincibility by sudden victories. He could then be sure 
that his enemies would fall out with one another. As rapidly 
and quietly as possible he collected an army under cover of 
his northern fortresses. His Guards were transported from 
Paris to the frontier in carriages. Thus he found himself in 
the field, at the head of about 130,000 men, mostly veterans, 
well equipped and ready for battle, while he was still be- 
lieved to be in Paris preparing to march. Wellington's quar- 
ters were scattered around Brussels ; but he supposed, though 
incorrectly, that he could concentrate his troops in twenty- 
two hours. His outposts were at Quatre-Bras, where the 
highway from Charlei'oi to Brussels crosses that from Ni- 
velles to Namur. Bliicher occupied Charleroi on the south, 
and his patrols ranged as far as Sollre on the Sambre ; but 
Biilow's corps was still in the rear, about Luttich and Namur. 
On June 14 the Prussian patrols observed the bivouac fires 
of a large army near at hand, and Bliicher notified Welling- 
ton of it, but the duke still doubted the approach of the 
French. On June 15 the French began their attack with 
great energy, and drove the Prussians down the Sambre to 
Charleroi, which they took after a bloody fight. Napoleon 
then divided his array. With the largest part, about 72,000 
men, he marched to the right against Bliicher, and found 
him in battle array at the villages of St. Amand and Ligny, 
at noon of June 16. The Prussian forces, though Biilow had 

TJu 



658 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

not come up, amounted to 80,000. TJie rest of the French, 
under Ney, Jerome, and Erlon, pursued the direct road from 
Charleroi toward Brussels, and fell upon Wellington's troops 
at Quatre-Bras at the same time. In great haste, but with 
perfect coolness and order, Wellington collected his English, 
Scottish, and Hanoverian troops. Frederick William of 
Brunswick brought up his "black" troops, and fell, shot 
through the body, while striving to remedy some confusion 
which had arisen among them. Quatre-Bras was successfully 
defended, and the struggle here greatly relieved the Prus- 
sians at Ligny. 

§ 15. At Ligny the battle between the Prussians and the 
French was carried on with fury, and charge after charge 
was made by Napoleon without securing possession of the 
villages. At length Napoleon, by a feint against St. Amand, 
entirely deceived the Prussians, whose reserves.were brought 
into action. It was now late in the evening. Napoleon seized 
this opportunity to throw his collected strength against Blii- 
cher's centre at Ligny, and it gave way ; the old Prussian 
commander himself was thrown down upon the field, and 
thousands of the French cavalry rode by without recogniz- 
ing him, so that he escaped capture. The loss of the Prus- 
sians in this fierce fight Avas more than 15,000 ; that of the 
French less than half so many. 

§ 16. But Napoleon thought his victory more complete 
than it was. On the next day he sent General Grouchy, 
with 34,000 men, along the road to Namur, in pursuit of the 
retreating Prussians; while he marched again to Quatre-Bras, 
with the main body of his troops, and along the highway to 
Brussels, by which Wellington had fallen back after the re- 
treat of the Prussians. On the evening of June lV«both ar- 
mies took up battle array before the wood of Soignies, near 
the estate called Belle- Alliance. Wellingtonhad6'7,000 troops, 
and Napoleon 72,000, the French being very superior in 
cavalry and artillery. But Blucher had promised to bring 
up his army to the field, including the fresh corps of Biilow. 
Blucher had undertaken an extraordinary feat — with a beaten 
army to be ready again for battle on the second day. With 
this in view, he did not follow the road, to Namur, along 
which Ney was advancing to find him, but moved north- 



Chap. XXXI. THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 659 

ward by wretched byways; and concentrated his army, in- 
chiding Billow's corps, at Wavre on the evening of June 
17. The next morning he marched westward to join Wel- 
lington, according to his promise. Every thing depended 
on reaching the place in time. But the heavy rains had 
softened the ground, so that men, horses, and wagons sank 
deep in the soil. The general was every where present, ex- 
horting, encouraging, and assisting. He had promised help 
to Wellington, and the cannon were roaring before him. 

§ 17. Throughout this day, Sunday, June 18, a desperate 
struggle was going on at Belle-Alliance. Napoleon's plan 
of battle was admirable, and the charges of his columns had 
never been moi-e terrible. The British troops held out with 
solid intrepidity, in close squares, which Avere constantly 
thinned by the enemy's grape-shot. On Wellington's ex- 
treme right a body of English, Nassau, and Brunswick troops 
defended Hougoumont against the repeated charges of the 
French. The British and Hanoverian infantry stood behind 
the ditches of the military road, which ran from west to east 
across the great Brussels highway, but retained barely half 
the strength they had in the morning. In front of them, 
the outpost of La Haye Sainte was lost, after a brave resist- 
ance by the German legion, and the left wing seemed ready 
to waver. Wellington was sorely pressed, and Napoleon 
still had a remnant of his Guards in reserve. At this moment 
fresh troops were seen coming up on the east, supposed at 
first by Napoleon's staff to be Grouchy's corps, which he 
eagerly looked for all day ; but they proved to be Billow's 
Prussians. The heroes of Leipsic were soon heard, and the 
bullets of the Prussian rangers whistled in Napoleon's ears. 
The farm-houses of La Belle-Alliance, which had been the 
French centre, formed the goal to which the allied troops 
pressed forward. Napoleon endeavored to secure his right 
flank by occupying the village of Planchenois with his re- 
serves, but the movement was hotly resisted. He then formed 
all the troops within his reach into a formidable column, in 
order to break the British centre before the Prussians could 
attack him. But his left wing was sorely pressed by the 
Prussians, and this enabled Wellington to draw in his troops 
on that side and streno-then his centre, so that the j^rand 



660 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

charge of the French went to pieces on the British squares, 
Wellington's cavalry followed up the flight of the French. 
At this time Billow's troops seized the village of Planchenois. 
Then the French army broke into a rout, and as the Prus- 
sians in steadily growing numbers pressed upon their left, 
they scattered in wild confusion over the field, Napoleon in 
the midst of them. The Prussians undertook the pursuit, the 
British troops being worn out with fatigue, and were ordered 
by Gneisenau to carry it on "to the last breath of horse and 
man." In the evening twilight Wellington and Blucher met 
at Belle-Alliance, and exchanged congratulations on one of 
the greatest victories of modern times. It Avas purchased at 
a terrible loss of life; indeed, this three days' campaign in 
Belgium reduced the numbers of the armies engaged by 
more than seventy-five thousand men. 

§ 18. The battle of Waterloo, or Belle- Alliance, destroyed 
Napoleon's hopes. His army was destroyed, scarce two 
companies of it remained together; and he could not raise 
another. With all speed he fled to Paris, and was the first 
man to bring to his capital the tidings of his own ruin. In 
eleven days more the British and Prussians stood again be- 
fore Paris ; and before they appeared the people had deserted 
Napoleon's cause, and extorted his abdication. The rest of 
the allied forces advanced into France, the monarchs entered 
Paris again, and a second Peace of Paris, November 20, 1815, 
ended the short but conclusive war. The princes, statesmen, 
and generals of Germany with one voice now demanded the 
restoration of Alsace and Lorraine, to secure the German 
frontier on the west, but all the rest of the allies opposed the 
demand. Great Britain and Russia were resolved that Ger- 
many should not be reinstated in its ancient power. France 
merely ceded Savoy and Nice to Sardinia, Saarbrucken and 
Saarlouis to Prussia, and Landau to Bavaria; and nearly all 
the works of art taken during former wars to the Paris mu- 
seums and libraries were given back to their owners. 

§ 19. Napoleon fled to Rochefort (July 7), intending to 
seek refuge in the United States ; but being prevented by 
the English fleet, he notified Captain Maitland (July 13) that 
it was his purpose to retire to private life in England, and 
that he therefore surrendered himself to the Biitish o-overn- 



Chap. XXXI. THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA. 661 

ment, and claimed its protection. Maitland simply promised 
to carry his prisoner to England, where the government 
should decide what to do, and not to surrender him to France. 
But the allies resolved that he should be regarded as the pris- 
oner of the combined powers, and that measures should be 
taken by them to make it impossible for him again to dis- 
turb the peace of Europe. Napoleon was accordingly sent, 
under a special convention, signed August 2, to the island of 
St. Helena, in the Atlantic, where he arrived in October, 1815, 
and where he died, May 5, 1821. His remains were removed 
to France by the Government of July, and buried in pomp at 
the Invalides in Paris. No foreign monarch, not Attila, Gus- 
tavus Adolphus, nor Louis XIV., ever exercised so great an 
influence on the destinies of Germany. The wars against 
him deeply impressed the German people with a sense of 
their national interests and their united power; but with a 
sense, also, of their utter want of national unity. 

§ 20. The great assembly of princes and embassadors at 
Vienna, which met in the autumn of 1814, and was interrupt- 
ed by Napoleon's return, carried on its work so rapidly dur- 
ing the campaign which followed, that its final act, or decree, 
for the new order of things in Europe was completed June 
9, 1815, nine days before the battle of Waterloo. Its decis- 
ions covered questions of the highest moment to every civil- 
ized nation, and being promulgated with the aggregate force 
of the Great Powers pledged to carry them out, it formed an 
era in European politics scarcely second in importance to the 
Peace of Westphalia. The American reader will observe 
that this self-constituted tribunal of sovereigns assumed the 
absolute right to dispose, at its own will, of the people of 
Europe, assigning them, by nations, cities, and districts, to 
such rulers, governments, and political associations as pleased 
it. Nor was any pretense made of considering the Avishes or 
the welfare of the people themselves. Kings and princes 
were to be satisfied according to the influence they could 
command in their favor, or the trouble they could make if 
disappointed. France was not divided, lest another revolu- 
tion should overthrow the Bourbons and shake other thrones. 
No political union could be thought of for Germany, lest the 
petty sovereigns should have to acknowledge a superior 



662 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book V. 

authority. Naj^oleon had indeed used the revolutionary zeal 
of France as his means of gaining power, and then abused 
that power by treating the people every where as his tools 
and his property ; but the allies, who were enabled to over- 
throw the tyrant by the patriotic devotion of their people, 
at once committed the same crime. Nor was a statesman's 
voice heard in Europe to protest against the right of kings 
thus to traffic in the destinies of nations. 

§ 21. The first great difficulty of the Congress, which nearly 
destroyed it, arose from the demand of Russia for the whole 
of the remnant of Poland, called the Grand-Duchy of "War- 
saw (§ 11). If this were yielded, the first principle of the 
Congress, the undoing of the injuries Napoleon had inflicted, 
would be defeated, unless ample compensation could be found 
elsewhere for the large ti'act of Poland which had been taken 
from Prussia by the Peace of Tilsit. The two Northern sov- 
ereigns agreed that Saxony should be used for this purpose, 
but neither Austria nor France would consent ; and Talley- 
rand, who represented the restored Bourbon monarchy, was 
already second in influence to no man in the Congress, except 
Alexander. After tedious negotiations and threatening dis- 
putes, Russia consented to accept Poland without the province 
of Posen, which was restored to Prussia, and the latter power 
also received more than half of Saxony, nearly 8000 square 
miles of territory with 845,200 inhabitants, while the most 
populous portion, with a million and a quarter of people, was 
left to the Saxon king. Prussia also obtained the duchies of 
Jiilich and Berg, on the Rhine, with the former possessions 
of the episcopal sees of Cologne and Ti-eves, and a number 
of smaller districts, which, together with Cleves, Meurs, and 
Guelders, formed the Rhine Province. Its old possessions in 
Westphalia were restored, together Avith the acquisitions 
made after the Peace of Luneville. The frontier of Prussia 
now ran obliquely across Germany from Tilsit to Saarbruck- 
en. It lay in two great separate divisions, indeed, and its 
aggregate territory was not so large as it had been in 1795, 
much less than in 1806 ; but, on the other hand, it had lost 
the large Sclavonic population it had held in the east, and 
was strictly a German state, and Avas thenceforth inseparably 
identified with the interests and the fate of Germany. Prus- 



Chap. XXXI. PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA STRENGTHENED. 663 

sia's direct share, therefore, in this distribution of the spoils 
of Europe seems small in view of its great sacrifices and suf- 
ferings during the Napoleonic wars, and of its magnificent 
contributions to the final result. But its moral gains by the 
victory, both in the national spirit of its own people and in 
the public opinion of the world, were far greater than those 
of any other Continental power. In the subsequent light of 
history, it is clear that the weak diplomacy of Prussia in the 
Congress, which failed to press its claims with the utmost 
effectiveness, was one of the most substantial instances of 
good fortune in the history of that fortunate kingdom. Had 
it then annexed Poland, Alsace, and Saxony, it may well be 
doubted whether Berlin would now be the capital of the Ger- 
man Empire. 

§ 22, The Congress took away the Tyrol from Bavaria and 
restored it to Austria, with the Italian Tyrol, which Napo- 
leon had given to Italy. Lombardy and Venice were annex- 
ed to the Hapsburg Empire, and the intimate relations of its 
court with the princes restored to power throughout Italy 
gave Austria a preponderance in the affairs of that peninsula 
which lasted forty years. Thus Austria was enabled to con- 
solidate its strength, and to assume a position almost as com- 
manding as it had held when the Holy Roman Empire in its 
hands was a reality. For the next generation, Metternich, 
the prime-minister of Austria, was the most influential man 
in Europe. Only one third of the dominions of the Haps- 
burgs, iiowever, lay within Germany, and their empire con- 
tinued to be less a German than a European power. It in- 
cluded people of many races, and was perpetually exposed 
to danger from the attempts of strange tribes to throw off 
the German supremacy. Indeed, liberal as was the apparent 
increase of importance given to Austria by the Congress, it 
was actualiy weakened in its position in Germany, being re- 
quired to cede to Baden and Wirtemberg the ancient pos- 
sessions of the Hapsburgs around Lake Constance, which Na- 
poleon had assigned to those powers in 1805. 

§ 23. Bavaria received from Austria, in the treaty of Ried , 
(Chap. XXX., § 1*7), a guarantee of its territory; and now, 
in ceding the Tyrol to Austria, received in exchange the Pa- 
latinate on the left bank of the Rhine, and the Grand-Duchy 



664 HISTOKY OF GERiNIANY. Book V. 

of Wiirzburg. It entered the new German League as a king- 
dom, the third tetate of Germany in power. Wirtemberg, 
Nassau, Baden, and Darmstadt retained the boundaries as- 
signed by Napoleon. 

Hanover was ably represented in the Congress by Count 
Miinster, a friend of Stein and of Gneiseuau, who had exer- 
cised in London an important influence in behalf of the cause 
of emancipation. But his views were contracted to the in- 
terests of his own small state. His aim was to prevent the 
aggrandizement of Prussia, and to set up instead a consider- 
able power between the Elbe and the Rhine, such as had ex- 
isted in the time of Henry the Lion. Supported by British 
influence, he succeeded in procuring the establishment in the 
north of a fifth kingdom, that of Hanover. The ancient 
possessions of the house of Hanover were increased by the 
addition of Hildesheim, Goslar, Lingen, and East Friesland, 
forming a state with a situation admirably adapted for a 
naval power, controlling the mouths of the Elbe, the Weser, 
and the Ems, but without the resources properly to improve 
its advantages. Built up at the expense of Prussia, and 
blocking the way of Prussia to the sea, this new kingdom 
could not escape coming into conflict in many ways with its 
more powerful neighbor. Another friend of Stein, Baron 
Gagern, who represented the house of Nassau-Orange, suc- 
ceeded in securing the annexation of Luttich to the new 
kingdom of the Netherlands, another artificial and temporary 
production of the Congress, although until 1794 Luttich had 
belonged to the German Empire. The Grand-Duchy of Lux- 
emburg was also given to this new kingdom. 

§ 24. Other changes of no great moment were made in the 
political divisions of Germany. Of the free cities of the em- 
pire only four were restored, Hamburg, Liibeck, Bremen, and 
Frankfort-on-the-Main. None of the petty principalities, coun- 
ties, and baronies were re-established. Germany was made 
to consist of thirty-eight states, forming the German Con- 
federation, which took the place of the old German Empire. 
It included the two great monarchies of Austria and Prussia, 
each of which, however, possessed land outside of German}^, 
and occupied also an independent European position ; and, in 
addition, four kingdoms, one electorate, seven grand-duchies, 



Chap. XXXI. THE HOLY ALLIANCE. 665 

nine duchies, ten principalities, and four free cities. Each 
state was sovereign, save that the right to make war and to 
conclude treaties was given to the confederation, and all dis- 
putes between the states were to be referred to the Diet. 
Each state guaranteed to every other its territories, and 
pledged itself to protect and defend the confederation, and 
every member of it, if attacked. The citizen of each state 
might inherit or acquire property in any other, without be- 
ing taxed more heavily than its own citizens. A force of 
300,000 men was provided for, in contingents proportional to 
the population. Differences of religious faith were to work 
no differences in civil rights. This new constitution was 
adopted by the states of Germany at Vienna, June 8, 1815. 

§ 24. The German Confederation did not fully satisfy the 
wishes of those princes and peoj^le who had looked for the 
re-establishment of the empire. A supreme court of national 
judicature and a supreme command of the national armies 
were still wanting. But the events of the war gave rise to 
an earnest and general patriotic feeling among the Germans, 
and to a common national consciousness, which took the 
place, to a great extent, of a closer political union. The Em- 
perors Francis I. and Alexander, and King Frederick William 
III., executed at Paris, September 26, 1815, "the Holy Alli- 
ance," as it was called, by which, as representatives of the 
three great branches of the Christian Church — the Roman 
Catholic, the Greek, and the Protestant Churches — they bound 
themselves to treat one another in all matters as Christian 
brethren, and to govern their people according to Christian 
principles. They urgently invited all the monarchs of Eu- 
rope, except the Pope and the Sultan, to join the alliance ; 
and they all did so except the Prince Regent of England, who 
replied that he approved its principles, but could enter into 
no treaty save through the agency of responsible ministers. 



BOOK VI. 

FROM THE PEACE OF PARIS TO THE PRESENT TIME, 
1815-1874. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE PERIOD OF THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION, 1815-1865. 

§ 1. Constitution of the Federal Diet; its Defects. § 2. General Prosperity 
under it. § 3. Progress of Liberalism. Policy of Austria. § 4. Promises 
of the Governments Broken. § 5. Slow Growth and Repression of Liberal 
Doctrines. § ii. Kotzebue Assassinated. Reaction. § 7. Constitutional 
Government in the several States. § 8. Effects of the French Revolution 
oiFlSSO. § 9. Prussia after 1815. § 10. Its Kapid Growth. § 11. The 
German Zoll-Verein. § 12. Reign and Policy of Frederick William IV. 
§ 13. Revolution of 1848. § 14. German Parliament at Frankfort. § 15. 
Progress of Keaction ; the Revolts Suppressed. § 16. The War in Hun- 
gary. § 17. In Schleswig and Holstein. § 18. Prussia's Efforts for Ger- 
man Union Defeated. § 1!>. Triumph of the Austrian Policy. § 20. 
William I., Regent of Prussia. § 21. Austria Defeated in Italy. § 22. 
William I. , King of Prussia : his Policy. § 23. Count Bismarck. § 24. 
Attempt of Austria to Reconstitute the Confederation in 1863. § 25. The 
War for Schleswig-Holstein, 1864. § 26. Success of the Austrian and 
Prussian Troops. § 27. The Duchies Ceded to the Two German Powers. 

§ 1. Our narrative from the fall of Napoleon to the present 
time must be restricted to a mere outline of the events which 
have been of capital importance to the German people. The 
new German Confederation, provided for by the Vienna Con- 
gress, assembled in a general Diet, composed of embassadors 
or delegates from the thirty-nine independent German states, 
at Frankfort-on^he-Main, November 5, 1816. In this Diet 
the determination of questions arising in the ordinary course 
of business was by general vote : eleven of the largest states 
having one vote each, while several of the smaller states to- 
gether had one ; so that there were seventeen votes in all. 
But upon special questions of constitutional importance each 



i 



Chap. XXXII. THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION. 667 

state bad at least one vote, while Austi-ia, Prussia, Bavaria, 
Wirtemberg, Saxony, and Hanover bad four, tbe five states 
next in size three, Brunswick, Scbwerin, and Nassau two 
each. This was called the " plenum," or full Diet. Thus tbe 
forty-two millions of people in Austria and Prussia had, in 
tbe plenum, less than one eighth, and in tbe ordinary Diet less 
than one seventh of the representation accorded to the twelve 
millions of Germans in tbe remaining states ; while Prussia, 
with its eight millions of people, was exactly balanced in the 
vote by tbe little principalities of Lichtenstein, Waldeck, 
Schaumberg, and Lippe, with less than 225,000, This ar- 
rangement might have led to a rupture of the confederation 
had any question arisen upon which tbe interests of the larger 
were opposed to those of tbe smaller states. But tbe great 
European monarchies of Austria and Prussia held an as- 
cendency, entirely apart from tbe Diet, which the other states 
fully recognized, and controlled nearly the whole standing 
military force of the confederacy ; and as each of them was 
ambitious for the primacy of Germany, tbe minor powers of 
the confederation rapidly ranged themselves on the one side 
or tbe other, Austria was made the permanent president of 
the confederation, but Prussia was the greatest and most 
progressive of tbe strictly German powers; and this fact 
brought it continually into greater prominence, as tbe best 
representative of tbe national idea, 

§2. The jealousies and divisions growing out of these rela- 
tions deprived Germany of its due weight in Eui-opean afiairs ; 
and in international politics tbe confederacy proved to be 
almost as impotent as tbe empire which preceded it. But 
tbe new constitution preserved at least tbe internal peace of 
the nation ; and for an entire generation after the battle of 
Waterloo not a company of foreign troops was seen, nor a 
skirmish fought, on the soil of Germany, which had so long 
been tbe battle-field of Christendom, It was during the half- 
century after 1815, indeed, that tbe devastation and poverty 
consequent upon the Thirty-Years' War may be said to have 
disappeared, Tlie people bad rest ; the rewards of industry 
began to seem secure ; the food of tbe peasants became suf- 
ficient in quantity and improved in quality ; population in- 
• creased rapidly, but not so rapidly as tbe general comfort. 



668 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

prosperity, and intelligence. For the first time in a number 
of generations the necessities of physical existence ceased 
to be the engrossing care of the peasantry, and the people had 
an opportunity to feel their need of a free political activity. 
Under the influence of a common language and literature, a 
consciousness of national unity began to extend among the 
Germans, and gradually grew to the strength which it now 
manifests, as one of the most influential forces in shaping the 
destinies of Europe. 

§ 3. The war of liberation gave an impulse of free political 
thought in Germany, which for a short time promised im- 
portant results. The students of the universities, especially, 
were strongly influenced by the more moderate forms of the 
doctrines of the French Revolution; and were convinced that 
no real progress could be made toward self-government by 
the people until the national unity of Germany should be se- 
cured. But all agitation in this direction was regarded by 
the hereditary monarchs as rebellious, and the Holy Alliance 
of sovereigns and the German Confederation were alike used 
as means for suppressing the spirit of liberty. Austria was 
foremost in this work. An aggregate of nations, brought 
together by the accident of a cominon ruling house, held to- 
gether by a standing army, but with no princij^le of unity 
whatever, the existence of this empire was war alike against 
the growth of a national consciousness and against popular 
freedom. For a generation after 1815 the policy of Austria 
was controlled by Prince Metternich, who saw the preserva- 
tion of his government inseparably bound up with the order 
of things established by the Peace of Paris and the Congress 
of Vienna. An able and dexterous diplomatist, and the vigi- 
lant enemy of free institutions, he was able during this long 
period to wield a vast power, beyond the limits of Austria, 
and indeed throughout Europe, for the suppression of liberal 
thought. Within the empire, this policy was pursued so 
successfully that political stagnation was the result. The 
energies and vast resources of the people were turned to 
luxury and waste during the life of Francis I., who died 
March 2, 1835 ; and, indeed, nearly to the same extent under 
his weak son and successor, Ferdinand I., who abdicated the 
crown in 1848. 



Chap. XXXII. LIBERAL OPINIONS SUPPRESSED. 669 

§ 4. It can not be said that any express assurance was 
given by the German sovereigns, during the national struggle 
against Napoleon, that more liberal institutions should be 
granted upon the overthrow of his ascendency. But the ex- 
pectation of such a change was a large part of the inspiration 
of the people in this war, especially in Prussia; and a royal de- 
cree, published in Berlin May 25, 1815, three weeks before the 
battle of Waterloo, proclaimed that a representation of the 
people should be formed — a national assembly should sit in 
Berlin, under a constitution to be formed by a council or 
committee of all the provinces. It was in accordance, too, 
with the general and just expectations of the people that the 
Federal Act constituting the confederation, adopted June 8, 
declared that " there shall be assemblies of the estates in 
every state." Ten days latex- came Waterloo, and the prom- 
ises made by the sovereigns in their hour of trouble were 
forgotten. The Prussian government took the lead in this 
breach of faith. At the beginning of 1816 it suppressed, by 
cabinet order, the Rhenish Mercury^ a democratic journal, 
which had exercised a wide influence in arousing the people 
against Napoleon, and which now demanded the fulfillment 
of the royal promise. In the following year the Diet resolved 
to assume the duty of guaranteeing the internal order of the 
several states — that is, at the call of each sovereign, of protect- 
ing him against revolutionary acts of his own people; and 
this measure, together with the rigid censorship of the press, 
seemed to complete the destruction of the liberal movement. 
In spite of the demands and remonstrances of popular lead- 
ers, like Arndt, Gorres, and Jahn, all of whom had been emi- 
nent in the great national effort of 1813, the Prussian gov- 
ernment took no step toward redeeming its pledge to the 
people until compelled by the Revolution of 1848; for the 
Constitution of the Provincial Estates, by the edict of June 
5, 1823, gave the people a mere pretense of representation, and 
no real share in the government of the kingdom. The gov- 
ernment of Prussia, indeed, during this period, was character- 
ized by extraordinary wisdom, and by a degree of insight 
into the real needs of the people rarely approached by an 
absolute monarchy. The last relics of feudal slavery were 
destroyed, the education of the people promoted, multitudes 



670 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

of ancient restrictions were removed from trade, and all was 
done that kings can do to make a people contented, so that 
for many years they scarcely seemed to feel their need of 
greater freedom. 

§ 5. Thus suppressed at home, the spirit of German liberal- 
ism found occupation in extending sympathy and aid to 
every cause, among other nations, which claimed to be that 
of freedom. In 1820 Spain and Italy began to be agitated 
by movements of the people against their despotic rulers, 
and the influence of these events was deeply felt in Germany. 
In 1821 the Greeks attempted to throw oiF the Turkish yoke, 
and their cause excited the utmost enthusiasm among the 
Germans, in whose affections the freedom of foreigners seem- 
ed to take the place of their own. Metternich labored to si- 
lence every voice that was raised against despotism, and this 
policy was efllciently seconded by the whole influence of 
"the Holy Alliance" throughout Euroi^e. Every effort or 
aspiration for change in the direction of increased freedom 
was met by a cry of alarm lest the scenes of the French Rev- 
olution be renewed ; and the social ban which fell upon all 
advocates of reform was often more potent for repression 
than the political agencies of the governments. 

§ 6. In 1819 the cause of reaction was greatly strengthen- 
ed by a shocking crime committed in the name of freedom. 
Augustus von Kotzebue, the famous dramatist, a native of 
Weimar, who had been for many years in the service and 
confidence of the Czar Alexander of Russia, returned to Ger- 
many in 1816, and took up his residence in Mannheim, whence 
he sent to St. Petersburg constant reports npon the politics, 
statistics, finances, and state of society in Germany, while he 
published many satirical and contemptuous attacks upon the 
spirit and aims of the patriotic party. Ilis conduct was de- 
nounced ; he lost the respect of all honorable men, and 
brought upon himself the fierce hatred of the patriots as "a 
Russian spy," On March 23, 1819, a student of Jena, Charles 
Sand, came to Manheim, entered Kotzebue's house, stabbed 
him to the heart, and then, proclaiming the deed in the 
streets, thanked God for the privilege of thus serving his 
country, and attempted to kill himself Failing in this, he 
was imprisoned, tried, and on May 20, 1820, was beheaded. 



I 



Chap. XXXII. REACTION AGAINST LIBERAL OPINIONS. 671 

Numbers of students from Heidelberg attended the execu- 
tion, and dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood. The mur- 
der of Kotzebue produced the wildest excitement, and the 
evident sympathy felt for the assassin seriously alarmed the 
German governments. But even Sand's heroic death could 
not destroy the horror with which the sober public mind re- 
garded assassination, and the reaction against the revolution- 
ary party was strong and general. The Diet of the Confed- 
eracy at Frankfort, September 20, 1819, adopted what were 
called " The Carlsbad Resolutions," destroying the freedom 
of the press, establishing commissions of investigation to sup- 
press all political agitation, placing the universities under 
government supervision, and requiring every state, great and 
small, to enforce these provisions. On May 15, 1820, the 
ministers of the German states in Vienna unanimously agreed 
upon the famous " Final Act," defining the objects and pow- 
ers of the confederacy, so as to secure to the great military 
states the means of compelling all the smaller states to join 
them in suppressing every movement in favor of liberal in- 
stitutions. French armies suppressed the revolt in Spain, 
and Austrian armies that in Italy — the Austrians marching 
in triumph the whole length of the peninsula. Successive 
congresses of princes and diplomatists — at Aix in 1818, at 
Troppau in 1820, at Laybach in 1821, and at Verona in 1822 
— took measures against the revolutionary movements in Eu- 
rope, and fairly converted "the Holy Alliance" into a con- 
spiracy of the great powers for the oppression of the people. 
§ 7. A serious opposition to the system of Metternich grew 
up gradually among the smaller states of Germany. The 
Final Act of the confederation at Vienna had renewed the 
promise made in the original constitution of 1815, that 
" states," or representative assemblies, should be established 
in every country. While Austria and Prussia delayed the 
fulfillment of this pledge, the smaller powers carried it out. 
Weimar was the first to do so in 1816, Charles Augustus 
still being the grand-duke. Then followed Nassau, Wirtem- 
berg, Bavaria, and Baden (in 1818), and afterward nearly all 
the states. Some of the monarchs in these countries were 
men of ability, and at the same time friends of the people. 
Such were King William I. of Wirtemberg (1819-1864), and 



672 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

especially King Lewis I. of Bavaria (1825-1848). These and 
several of the princes of still smaller states were inclined to 
accept a constitutional form of government, and thus they 
gradually formed a sort of opposition to the great military 
monarchies. The peoj^le began to look upon the smaller ter- 
ritories as more free, and to regard the great powers as the 
obstacles to freedom, compelling the rest to their own will. 
These smaller states had belonged to the Rhine Confederacy, 
retained something of their regard for Napoleon and for 
France, and syrajiathized with the vigorous French opposi- 
tion to the Bourbons. A strong party grew up in Germany 
with decidedly liberal views as to the power and duties of 
government, but with sympathies and aims which were rather 
abstract and universal than national, and found a field for its 
activity in the constitutional politics of the states themselves. 
It was especially in Southern and Western Germany that this 
liberal party acquired a controlling influence. 

§ 8. Under these circumstances, the July Revolution in 
France, which resulted in making Louis Philippe " King of 
the French" (August 9, 1830), naturally produced an intense 
excitement in Germany, and especially in the smaller states. 
The countries bordering on the Rhine, such as Baden, Darm- 
stadt, and the Bavarian Palatinate, were agitated in the high- 
est degree. On May 27, 1832, a festival was held at the 
castle of Hambach, in the Palatinate, at which, under the 
pretext of celebrating the anniversary of the Bavarian con- 
stitution, an assembly of thirty thousand men was collected 
to consider means for the emancipation of Germany ; and the 
ancient black, red, and gold colors of the empire were adopt- 
ed as the standard of the free German nation. Great enthu- 
siasm was shown ; but the movement was soon suppressed 
by Bavarian troops. On April 3, 1833, a body of fifty-one 
young men, mostly students, made a mad attempt to obtain 
possession of the city of Frankfort and of the members of the 
Diet, but were easily put down by the city battalion. As 
early as September 6, 1 830, disturbances broke out in Bruns- 
wick, and the arbitrary Duke Charles, son of Frederick Will- 
iam who was killed at Quatre-Bras, was driven out, and his 
brother William called to the throne. Li Cassel, in January, 
1831, the people extorted from the elector a liberal constitu- 



Chap. XXXII. GROWTH OF PRUSSIA. 673 

tion. The agitation in Saxony was mainly directed against 
the Roman Catholic tendencies of the king. Metternich used 
all the power of the confederation to suppress the disturb- 
ances throughout Germany, and external quiet was soon re- 
stored. In Hanover, in 1833, after various popular disturb- 
ances lasting two years, a reconciliation was brought about 
by the Duke of Cambridge, the king's brother, and a liberal 
constitution was established. King William died in 1837, 
and since females were excluded from the succession in Han- 
ovei', the crown was separated from that of England, and 
went to the Duke of Cumberland, Ernest Augustus, the head 
of the Tory party in England. As soon as he landed in Han- 
over the constitution was overthrown, and seven of the ablest 
professors at Gottingen, among them the brothers Gi'imm, 
and Professors Gervinus and Ewald, who protested against 
the act, were banished, with no eifect but general dissatisfac- 
tion among the German people. 

§ 9. By the final Peace of Paris, and the new distribution 
of territory after it, Prussia acquired, in the Rhine province 
and a great part of Westphalia, a population which was 
strange to the Prussians, and which was prejudiced against 
its rigid and paternal system of government. It was a dif- 
ficult task to incorporate these territories with the kingdom, 
and one for which many years of peace and good order were 
essential. King Frederick William HI. (1797-1840) was a 
man well adapted to this work. He had sufiered with his 
people and triumphed with them, and had won their afiection 
and confidence. His best days were those which came after 
1815. In the direct, practical, and economical administration 
of affairs he resembled Frederick William I. The people of 
the old Prussian provinces were sincerely attached to his 
family and government, and for many years were not affected 
by the revolutionary and liberal movements of the time. 
But the praise deserved by his internal administration (§ 6) 
can not be extended to his foreign policy. Like Frederick 
William I., he was much less successful in his management 
of international affairs. He was closely bound to Russia and 
Austria by inclination, as well as by the terms of the Holy 
Alliance ; and the influence of the Czar Alexander and of 
Metternich was so potent with him as to be a hinderance to 

Xx 



674 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

the natural development of Prussia. Hence men like Stein, 
Schon, Gneisenau, and Humboldt, sincere and able patriots, 
fell into the background, and failed to accomplish the work 
they might have done for Prussia ; while otheris, like Arndt 
and Schleiermacher, were maligned and persecuted by their 
enemies. Thus the whole influence of the government was 
exerted, all the more efficiently that it was wielded without 
violence or rashness, to check the growth of liberal princi- 
ples, and to prevent the development of a free and vigorous 
political life among the people. As a necessary result, neither 
the king nor the people had the spirit and confidence to as- 
sume their proper position as the leaders of Germany. 

§ 10. Prussia was steadily growing in resources and power. 
The consolidation of the people in one nation went on rapidly. 
Trade and industry, agriculture and manufactures, were fos- 
tered. It was regarded as a necessity, in order to maintain 
the place of the nation in Europe, to keep up a standing army 
in full efficiency, even in time of peace. The military or- 
ganization of the war for freedom, with the universal liability 
to military service, was therefore retained. But the greatest 
and most persistent efforts were also made for the intellect- 
ual progress of the people. The popular schools of Prussia 
became models for other nations to imitate. The higher 
education was also encouraged. The old universities were 
fostered ; that at Berlin was greatly increased in resources 
and efficiency, and a new one was founded at Bonn. The 
capital city was adorned with handsome buildings and rich 
collections of works of art. Without interfei'ence in religious 
belief, a religious spirit was encouraged by the government, 
and, as a testimonial of reconciliation between the Lutheran 
and the Reformed Churches, the Evangelical Union was 
founded, through the king's influence, at the third centennial 
celebration of the Reformation in 1817. 

§ 11. Perhaps the most important act of the Prussian gov- 
ernment, in view of its ultimate results, was its effort to bring 
into unity the trade and commerce of all Germany. Austria 
was prevented from uniting with the other states by the 
peculiar interests of its extra-German territories; but the 
rest of Germany, under the guidance of Prussia and Bavaria, 
united, during the years from 1828 to 1834, in the "Zoll- 



Chap. XXXII. THE ZOLL-VEREIN. 675 

Verein," or customs-union. While the German Confederation 
acted in some respects as a check to national development, 
this union actually produced a common national interest in 
all matters -of material prosperity ; and Prussia, which took 
the lead in 1818 by abolishing all duties upon transit through 
its own territories, became the acknowledged head of the 
union. Austria was already jealous of Prussia, and regarded 
this union as " the first breach in the work of 1815 ;" and it 
was really the first independent act of Prussia, and one 
which, though not startling in its character at the time, has 
proved momentous in its results. As the general activity 
and prosperity of the commercial classes throughout the 
states of this union were developed under it, it became ob- 
viously impossible to dissolve it. For commercial purposes, 
Germany was now a unit, and the products of the nation 
soon began to compete on equal terms with those of other 
nations in the markets of the world. The merchant navy of 
Germany rose again, and became the third in extent in the 
world — only excelled by those of the United States and of 
Great Britain. The inventions of steamships and locomotive 
engines were speedily adopted by the Germans ; lines of rail- 
road were built throughout their country, filling with new 
activity old avenues of trade, and reviving in pro'sperity and 
wealth decayed and almost abandoned cities. The free citi- 
zens of the centres of trade left far behind them the richest 
days of the Middle Ages in their busy life with its comforts 
and luxuries. The rapid growth of such places as Cologne, 
Breslau, Magdeburg, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, and Berlin as- 
tonished all Europe. It was no longer the capitals df princes 
alone that were distinguished for splendor and wealth. The 
prosperity of the cities was rivaled by that of the agricult- 
ural districts. The peasant was inspired to greater exertion 
by the possession of his own land, and his increased resources 
brought with them more knowledge and culture. Poetry, 
indeed, declined, but the fine arts reached a splendid de- 
velopment. In North Germany, Berlin was the centre of 
artistic productiveness, and here Frederick William III., and 
still more earnestly Frederick William IV,, fostered the arts, 
bringing together men of genius like Ranch, Cornelius, and 
Schinckel, In South Germany, at Munich, under King Lewis 



676 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

and his successor Maximilian II. (1848-1864), Schvvantha- 
ler and Ivlenze formed a famous and influential school. 
Science, too, made Avondert'ul strides, especially the natural 
sciences and history, in which Germany continues to lead the 
world. 

§ 12. On June T, 1840, Frederick William III, died, amid 
the sincere sorrow of his people. His son and successor, 
Frederick William IV. (1840-1861), was a man of rich en- 
dowments and high culture. He had taken part in his youth 
in the great struggle of the nation for indeiDcndence, and his 
education had been conducted with care by eminent men. 
He was justly admired for his remarkable powers as an ora- 
tor; his views and aims were not limited to Prussia, but he 
was truly a patriotic German, and wished for the free de- 
velopment of popular life, rather than for the rigid main- 
tenance of old institutions. When his father established the 
Provincial Estates, the young prince zealously desired the 
formation of a national states-general ; and applied for advice 
to Stein, who had retired to private life, and was at work on 
his own estate, collecting the materials of ancient German 
history. The first acts of his government, after his accession, 
showed his sincerity and his desire for progress. Men who had 
been proscribed for political oftenses were restored to ofiice, 
even from prison. At the same time he attempted to modify 
the constitution of the German Confederation, though it was 
his desire, not to use violence, but to act in harmony with 
Austria and the other states. In 1840 he insisted, through 
Radowitz, his embassador at Vienna, that a reconstitution 
of the confederation was absolutely necessary, and was prop- 
erly demanded by the nation. In 1845 he renewed his efforts 
in Vienna. But he met with opposition, not only there and 
at St. Petersburg, but among his own ministers. MeanAvhile 
a party had arisen in Prussia which was impatient for a sud- 
den change, and unwilling to await the peaceful develop- 
ment of the constitution under the king's own guidance. On 
February 3, 1847, by royal patent, the united Diet of the mon- 
archy was summoned. But the revolutionary party was not 
satisfied with the rights and powers assigned to its members, 
and the agitation increased. Religious excitement, resulting 
from the effort of some Roman Catholics in 1845 to establish 



Chap. XXXII. THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848. 677 

a German Catholic Church, added to the political disturbance; 
and a number of violent writers stirred up the people still 
more by their tracts and pamphlets. 

§ 13. In February, 1848, the people of Paris drove Louis 
Philippe from the throne, and declared a republic. This 
event greatly increased the ferment in Germany. In March 
began a general movement of the people, first in the smaller 
German states in the west, and then rapidly extending east- 
ward, demanding, one after another, freer constitutions, lib- 
erty of the press, the right to bear arms, and other popular 
reforms. The various governments yielded to the storm, 
appointing ministers from the liberal j^arty (afterward called 
"March cabinets"), and making large concessions to the 
people. Thus in Wirtemberg, Darmstadt, Nassau, Hesse, and 
even in little Sigmaringen, there was a sudden change in 
the government. In Bavaria, King Lewis had made himself 
unpopular, of late years, by yielding to the influence of a 
Spanish woman, Lola Montez, whom he made Countess of 
Lansfeld, and in spite of his tried patriotism and long services 
to the j)eople, he was compelled to abdicate (March 20), and 
his son, Maximilian II., ascended the throne. Hanover and 
Saxony were thrown into disorder by the news from Paris; 
but the kings resisted obstinately until Berlin and Vienna 
were seized by the revolution, when they too yielded to the 
popular demand. The rapid success of the movement en- 
couraged the patriotic party, and the cry spread throughout 
Germany for national unity, with a representation of the 
people in the Diet of the confederation. Nor did this revo- 
h;tion stop, like that of 1830, at the frontiers of the great 
states. On the night of March 13 Metternich was over- 
thrown by a popular insurrection, and he fled from Vienna, 
and afterward to England. On March 18, after similar out- 
breaks at Berlin, the king yielded to the wishes of the radi- 
cal party, and issued a proclamation, promising to strive for 
the union of Germany in one federal state, and for the free- 
dom of the press throughout the nation. 

§ 14. The German liberals entertained great hopes from the 
work of a National Parliament, or General Assembly, formed 
of representatives chosen by the people, which met at Frank- 
fort on May 10. But the revolutionary spirit was too ea- 



678 HISTOEY OF GEKMANY. Book VI. 

ger to await any peaceful action. Vienna was for a time 
controlled by a body of students and laborers. In the Aus- 
trian Diet the different nations quarreled bitterly ; and the 
revolt of Italy and Hungary, and the agitation among the 
Sclavonic peoples, threatened the empire with dissolution. In 
Berlin the power was held all summer by a bold but unintel- 
ligent body of i-evolutionists, who completely overshadowed 
the Prussian National Diet. In Frankfort there were terri- 
ble riots in September, under the very eyes of the National 
Parliament, which threatened scenes like those of the darkest 
days of teri-or in Paris. 

§ 15. The ruling democracy seemed to forget that the foun- 
dations of the old order, and especially the standing armies, 
were still not destroyed. The quiet people of the nation 
were filled with horror by the extravagance and violence of 
the revolution, and began to fear for their property and their 
homes. But the governments meanwhile quietly gathered 
their forces. In the Austrian dominions. Marshal Radetzky 
put down the Italian insurrection, and Prince Windischgratz 
the democracy of Vienna, after a bloody fight for the pos- 
session of the city (October 31). The Emperor Ferdinand 
had already abdicated, and his nephew, Francis Joseph I., be- 
came emjDeror at the age of eighteen. On March 4,1849, a 
new constitution was decreed by the government, and Aus- 
tria became a constitutional monarchy. In Prussia, General 
Wrangel occupied Berlin in November, 1848, without a bat- 
tle ; and the National Assembly was dissolved. The consti- 
tution promulgated December 5, 1848, through the ministry 
of Count Brandenburg and Manteuffel, was quietly accepted 
by the people. In the German National Assembly, a moder- 
ate party, led by Gagern, Dahlmann, and others, carried on 
a difficult contest against the radical and revolutionary par- 
ty, until they finally succeeded, in accordance with the great 
change which was going on in the popular mind, in electing 
King Frederick William IV. of Prussia emperor of Germa- 
ny. The imperial crown was tendered to the king by a for- 
mal deputation, April 3, 1849 ; but he declined it, and spoke 
of the constitution adopted by that body as a project not 
yet established, but to be submitted for final action to the 
several governments of Germany. This decision disappoint- 



Chap. XXXII. HUNGARY SUBDUED BY RUSSIA. 679 

ed many even of those, who were not revolutionists, but it 
was justified by the event. The rejection of the imperial con- 
stitution by the states was made the occasion, however, for 
new disturbances, which became alarming in Dresden, in Ba- 
den, and in the Palatinate, during the spring of 1849; and 
were only suppressed by Prussian troops under Prince Will- 
iam of Prussia. The German National Assembly dwindled 
to a mere remnant, the representatives of the larger states, be- 
ginning with Austria, withdrawing successively; and it final- 
ly came to an end at Stuttgart, June 18, 1849, in utter neg- 
lect and obscurity. 

§ 16. The revolt of Hungary was conducted with far more 
skill and persistency than the revolutionary movement in any 
of the German states. The Magyars were thoroughly organ- 
ized, and their plans had Jong been made for securing the 
separation of their ancient kingdom from Austria. For this 
purpose they took advantage of the democratic spirit of the 
time, and proclaimed a republic ; securing also the alliance 
and aid of the Italian democrats, who, under Mazzini, under- 
took to keep the Austrian government busy in Italy. During 
the early months of 1849 the Hungarians were successful, 
and on April 14, 1849, when Louis Kossuth, the chief man- 
ager of the plot, and the ablest statesman among them, was 
proclaimed President, the house of Hapsburg had been driven 
from the land, and the republican armies were two hundred 
thousand strong. But in May the young emperor, Francis 
Joseph, personally appealed to the Czar Nicholas at Warsaw; 
a vast Russian army was at once sent into Hungary to sup- 
port the Austrians, and Gorgey, the Magyar commander,^ 
after a feeble resistance, surrendered his army and the cause, 
August 13, 1849, only two days after accepting from Kossuth 
and the ministry the ofiice of Dictator. Kossuth, Bem, and 
other Hungarian leaders escaped into exile ; but many of 
their prominent generals and politicians were put to death, 
as traitors by Haynau,the Austrian commander-in-chief 

§ 1*7. The war in Schleswig and Holstein fills a sad chapter 
in the history of this period. These two duchies had long 
been annexed to the crown of Denmark; but there was now 
a prospect that the ancient Danish dynasty would soon die 
out. The German population hoped, in that case, to form an 



680 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

independent sovereignty of their own tinder a duke of the 
Augustenburg line, and so to come into closer connection 
with Germany. But in 1 846 the " open letter " of King Chris- 
tian VIII. announced that, in the event anticipated, these 
duchies must still remain united to Denmark. Serious dis- 
content was shown ; and did not subside when, on January 
23, 1848, Christian's successor, Frederick VII., proclaimed a 
common constitution for Denmark and the duchies. During 
the general agitation of 1848, the Schleswig-Holstein people 
revolted and formed a provisional government, which began 
a war for independence against Denmark, assisted by volun- 
teers from all parts of Germany. At first the Danes were 
victorious ; but finally the troops of the German Confedera- 
tion entered the country, defeated the Danes at Schleswig on 
April 23, and expelled them from the duchies. The Germans 
had no fleet with which to follow up and complete their vic- 
tory, and they invaded Jutland to exact compensation for the 
injury the Danes were doing at sea to German trade. But 
England and Russia assumed an attitude So threatening that 
Prussia, which from the first had but little zeal in the war, 
agreed to the armistice of Malmoe. In the spring of 1849 
the people of Schleswig and Holstein renewed the war, sup- 
ported by contingents of German troops. Their army, under 
the Prussian General Barin, crossed the frontier of Jutland, 
defeated the Danes at Kolding, and pursued them to the very 
fortifications of Fredericia. But the Prussians and the rest 
of the Germans hesitated to advance farther for diplomatic 
reasons, and when they entered Jutland carried on the war 
without any vigor, while the troops of Schleswig-Holstein 
suftered a heavy blow before Fredericia from a sally of the 
Danes. By an armistice then concluded in Berlin, Schleswig 
was separated from Holstein, and placed under a council pre- 
sided over by an Englishman. A peace with Denmark was 
concluded by Prussia in the name of the German Confedera- 
tion ; but in 1850 the people of Holstein rejected it, and re- 
newed the war, relying on their own strength. They were 
defeated at Idstadt, July 24 and 25, after an obstinate fight, 
but still resolved not to submit. But the great German pow- 
ers ordered that hostilities should cease, and Austrian troops 
crossed the Elbe to disarm the duchies and surrender them 



Chap. XXXII. FRUITLESS EFFORTS FOR GERMAN UNITY. 681 

to Denmark. By the London Protocol of 1852, a new ordi- 
nance of succession was provided, under which the Danish 
monarchy, at the death of Frederick VII., should go without 
division to Prince Christian of Glucksburg,who was selected 
by King Frederick as his heir. But neither the Germans in 
the duchies nor the public opinion of Germany at large ever 
acquiesced in the union of these districts with Denmark. 

§ 1 8. Frederick William IV. still, through all the storms of 
the revolution, cherished his plan for reforming the German 
Confederation. Before the bloody outbreak at Berlin on 
March 18, 1848, he declared, " Germany, from a confederation 
of states, must become a federal state." But he declined the 
imperial throne, and in the spring of 1849 suppressed the 
revolution in Saxony and in all North Germany with Prus- 
sian troops. At this time a fruitless attempt was made, in 
the "league of the three kings" of Prussia, Saxony, and Han- 
over, to provide a centre around which all the smaller German 
states might gather, apart from Austria. But after the sup- 
pression of the revolt, Austria, stronger than ever, and now 
guided by the shrewd, audacious Schwarzenberg, endeavored 
to supplant the influence of Prussia in Germany. Prussia 
still sought to bring about a union in some form, if only with 
the smaller states, and for this purpose, under Radowitz's 
advice, called a National Parliament to meet at Erfurt in 
March, 1850, to form a new imperial constitution. But Aus- 
tria called on the South German governments to renew the 
Federal Diet. Some of the princes adhered to Prussia ; but 
the kings of Bavaria and Wirtemberg, with the majority, in- 
cluding Hanover and Saxony, followed Austria. It was even 
proposed that all the countries of the Austrian Empire should 
be admitted to the German Confederation and to the Zoll- 
Verein, so that Austria should have an indisputable ascend- 
ency. Schwarzenberg aimed above all else to humiliate 
Prussia, In the Electorate of Hesse the people and their rep- 
resentatives were engaged in a peaceful and constitutional 
struggle against arbitrary acts of the elector and his minis- 
ter, Hassenpflug. Austria and the renewed confederation, 
to whose protection the elector appealed, supported him, and 
Austrian troops entered Hesse in November, 1850. Prussia, 
on the other hand, occupied Cassel,and seemed to be resolved 



682 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

on resistance to Austria. The struggle promised to be a de- 
cisive one for the leadership in Germany. Austria concen- 
trated Sclavonic troops in Bohemia, and Bavarians marched 
with Austrians against Hesse. The army of Prussia was put 
on a war footing. Count Brandenburg, the Prussian minis- 
ter, went to Warsaw in order to prevail on the Czar Nicho- 
las to aid with his influence the efibrts of Prussia. But the 
Czar's threatening declarations made it impossible for Prus- 
sia to take any further step^. Brandenburg died immediate- 
ly after this journey, and his successor, the more facile Man- 
teufiel, went to Olmiitz to meet Schwarzenberg, only to yield 
to him in every thing. Civil war was avoided, and Prussia's 
influence, for the time, sacrificed to that of Austria, under the 
dictation of the Czar. The suppression of the Hessian popu- 
lar movement, and the deliverj^ of Schleswig-Holstein to the 
Danes, followed. King Frederick William IV. abandoned 
his plans for Germany, and the Federal Diet was renewed 
(1851). 

§ 19. Austrian influence was again in the ascendant in Ger- 
many, and was unscrupulously used for purposes which re- 
called the times of Ferdinand H. The Austrian constitution 
was abolished, and every German monarch who undertook 
reactionary measures was sure of support from Austria and 
the confederation. The power of Rome and of the Jesuits 
was restored. At the same time, Austria maintained a defi- 
ant and hostile tone toward Prussia, strove to bind to itself 
the smaller states, and even to weaken and dissolve the Zoll- 
Verein, the last bond of German union left in Prussia's hand. 
The people of the smaller German states seemed indifler- 
ent to these jealousies of the great powers. Prussia took 
no part in the war of France and England against Russia 
(1853-1856), having no reason for hostility to that empire. 
Austria finally joined the Western powers, and its threaten- 
ing attitude hastened Russia's consent to humiliating terms 
of peace. Prussia was now checked in the career of growth 
and pi'ogress in which it had been moving from the accession 
of Frederick William IV. The constitution, indeed, was not 
overthrown, but the people were full of suspicion and dis- 
content. The disgrace of the surrender at Olmiitz was felt 
as a second Jena. 



Chap. XXXII. REGENCY OF PKINCE WILLIAM. 683 

§ 20. Id October, 1857, King Frederick William IV. fell 
hopelessly ill, his sensitive mind being shattered by the ex- 
citements and conflicts of the last ten years. His brother, 
William, assumed the government as regent, at first tempora- 
rily, and then as a permanent oflice (October 9,1858). Will- 
iam I. was born March 22, 1797. His infancy saw Prussia's 
strength as left by Frederick the Great ; while a boy, he wit- 
nessed the overthrow of the monarchy and its humiliation ; 
and he shared, as a youth, in the new birth of the country 
and the war for freedom. His health in early life was feeble, 
and it was not until after the battle of Leipsic that his father, 
Frederick William III., consented to take him to the army. 
He won at Bar-sur-Aube the order of the Iron Cross, and 
entered Paris with the allied monarchs. He embraced the 
life of a soldier with great zeal, and fulfilled its duties faith- 
fully. He was rapidly advanced by his father to the higher 
grades of military rank, and was made commander-in-chief 
by his brother, Frederick William IV. In 1848 he suftered 
with his family; but in 1849 he again took command of the 
army, and put down the revolution in Baden. After the mor- 
al defeat of Prussia by Austria, he lived in princely retire- 
ment at Coblentz. 

§ 21. On assuming the regency, he dismissed the Manteuflfel 
ministry, and summoned a new one under Prince Hohenzol- 
lern and Count Auerswald. This act pleased the people, 
who cordially sustained it in their elections of members of 
the House of Deputies. The regent declared, " Prussia is 
ready every where to protect the right," and the people of 
Prussia and of Germany believed that he meant especially 
the right of the people who had been abandoned — those of 
Schleswig-Holstein and of Hesse. The occasion for action 
soon came. In 1859 arose a dispute between Austria and Vic- 
tor Emanuel, King of Sardinia. Opinions in Germany were 
divided ; large numbers looked on distracted and oppressed 
Italy as an image of Germany, and wished it free and united. 
But when Sardinia made an alliance with Napoleon HI., and 
the French armies crossed the Alps, the danger from French 
ambition seemed paramount, and against such a foe Austria 
was again a German power. Then Austria assumed to drag 
Prussia into the war as a vassal state, and Prussia, no long- 



684 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

er the helpless power that submitted at Olraiitz, refused to 
obey. Then came the defeats of Magenta (June 4, 1859) and 
Solferino (June 24), and Prussia declared its willingness to 
assist Austria, and placed its army on a war footing. But 
the prince regent demanded that, if a war of the confederacy 
were to be waged, he should have the command of all the 
troops. Austria did not consent, but the Emperor Francis 
Joseph made peace with France, ceding Lombardy to Italy 
(the Peace of Villa-Franca, July 11, 1859). Prussia was then 
widely blamed for having left Austria without help. 

§ 22. On January 2, 1861, Frederick William IV. died, and 
William I. became king. Austria had shown its determina- 
tion at all hazards to keep Prussia from controlling Germany, 
Prussia resolved to obtain the leadership ; and the king im- 
mediately upon his accession began a thorough reorganiza- 
tion of the army, to which he gave the most minute and con- 
stant personal attention. The army was still to be " the 
people in arms ;" and, for this purjjose, its numbers were in- 
creased, and the period of active service in the reserve length- 
ened, while that in the Landwehr was shortened. In the 
Diet there was insuperable opposition to this plan. Prussia 
had been engaged in no great war for many years, having 
in 1850 yielded before the contest came to blows. It seemed 
to the people that an increase of the army was not necessary, 
unless in case of actual war. The cost of the reorganization 
would be a burden, and perhaps the old militia would be 
lowered in efficiency. The Diet, which held over from 1858, 
voted the necessary supplies only provisionally and for one 
year. But the reorganization could not, as the government 
held, be either postponed or rashly hurried through ; and 
the Diet which assembled in 1861, with a democratic ma- 
jority, would not sanction the outlay already made upon it. 
Thus arose the " constitutional struggle," which grew more 
fierce from year to year. The ministry retired, and Yon der 
Heydt formed a new one, which remained until the autumn of 
1862. Before his formal coronation (October, 1861), indeed. 
King William was claimed by the liberal party as a friend 
of their principles. But at that time he boldly proclaimed 
the traditional assumptions of his family, saying to the as- 
sembled states : " The sovereigns of Prussia receive their 



Chai'. XXXil. BISMAECK, PRIME -MINISTER. 685 

crown from God, so that it is sacred and inviolable. You 
are called together as advisers of the crown." These rash 
words seemed to many enlightened men a threat against the 
constitution, and greatly embittered the oj^position of the 
liberals even to wise and patriotic plans formed by the gov- 
ernment. 

§ 23. The ministry failed to obtain the approval of the 
deputies ; the people, upon the dissolution of the house, 
only increased the majority of the opposition, and yet the 
king was persistent. At length he recalled Bismarck, the 
embassador in Paris, and placed him at the head of the min- 
istry. Otto von Bismarck-SchOuhausen (born April 1, 1815) 
distinguished himself in the Prussian National Assembly of 
1848, and in the chamber of 1849, as a leader of the conserv- 
ative party, then favorable to Austria and to Manteuffel. 
He was delegate to the Federal Diet in Frankfort in 1851, 
when Austria under Schwarzenberg treated Prussia with 
overbearing rudeness ; and from that time Bismarck steadily 
labored to relieve his country from its humiliating position. 
His experience as embassador in Russia and France gave 
him a profound insight into European politics ; and his abili- 
ties made him respected at home and feared at Vienna. On 
entering the ministry, he wished to be on good terms with 
the House of Deputies. But his early devotion to absolutism 
was remembered against him, and his appointment was re- 
garded with alarm, as a new proof of the reactionary pur- 
poses of the court. In the legislative body he was met by 
utter distrust ; and since he proceeded to cai-ry out the king's 
purpose of reorganizing the army, the contest only grew 
more bitter during 1862 and the two following years. 

§ 24. Austria improved the time, while Prussia was dis- 
tracted by the constitutional conflict, to increase its influ- 
ence in Germany, and showed a willingness to take into its 
own hand the reorganization of the confederation. Almost 
all the German princes assembled, upon Austria's invitation, 
in the congress at Frankfort, in August, 1863. It was here 
declared that there must be, in addition to a house of princes, 
a house of deputies or delegates, selected by the legislative 
houses of the several states, one third by the upper or hered- 
itary house in each state, and two thirds by the popular 



686 HItSTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

house. The executive power was to be in the hands of a di- 
rectory of princes, under the presidency of Austria. But the 
King of Prussia took no part in the congress, and refused to 
accept a plan which would subordinate his country to Aus- 
tria. It was also rejected by Baden, Weimar, and three of 
the smaller states, and came to nothing. Bismarck openly 
advised the Austrian minister, Rechberg, to transfer the 
centre of Austrian power to Hungary, outside of Germany ; 
while Austria endeavored by every means to irritate the 
other German states against Prussia. A resort to arms 
seemed imminent, when a temporary reconciliation was pro- 
duced by an emergency in Schleswig-Holstein. 

§ 25. King Frederick VII. of Denmark died suddenly, No- 
vember 15, 1863. According to the London protocol of 1852, 
Prince Christian of Gliicksburg was to succeed to the entire 
possessions of the Danish crown as Christian IX. Frederick 
VII. had himself adopted a national constitution, incorporat- 
ing Schleswig with the Danish monarchy. But Christian 
IX. hesitated to approve it. He signed it, however, u)ider 
the pressure of a revolutionary movement in Copenhagen, 
which threatened his crown. Most of the smaller German 
states had refused to ratify the London protocol, and now 
appealed to the ancient settlement of the inheritance, which 
was violated by the selection of Christian IX. as king. When 
the incorporation of Schleswig in the monarchy was deter- 
mined on, the German Confederation, on September 19, 1863, 
decreed " federal execution " in behalf of Holstein, and in 
December, 1863,12,000 Saxon and Hanoverian troops entered 
that duchy. But the Bund could do nothing for Schleswig, 
which was not a member of it. The German people in gen- 
eral earnestly demanded the final emancipation of the duchies 
from Denmark. But the two great powers, without which 
nothing could be accomplished, were' in an embarrassing po- 
sition. Prussia was resolved to act for the relief of the 
duchies, but was bound by the London protocol, and could 
not obey the popular cry, and declare for the hereditary rights 
of Prince Frederick of Augustenburg, without challenging 
all Europe to arms. Austria had once disarmed Schleswig- 
Holstein, and had no interest in its people ; but was not 
ready to permit Prussia to gain influence and power by form- 



Chap. XXXII. WAR IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN. 687 

ing closer relations with the duchies. But by deserting 
them, it would have lost the favor of the German people. 
Austria therefore chose to follow the lead of Prussia, so as 
to watch its movements, 

§ 26. Prussia however could protest, though not against 
the accession of Christian IX., yet against the incorporation 
of Schleswig in Denmark ; and Bismarck at the same time 
declared that the first cannon-shot fired would destroy the 
obligation of the London protocol. This was a doctrine 
which Great Britain could not accept; and as it had joined 
the other powers in guaranteeing the personal union of the 
duchies with Denmark, it now encouraged the Danes, and 
assumed a threatening attitude toward the smaller German 
states. But when it became evident that war was inevita- 
ble, the ministry of Lord Palmerston quietly withdrew from 
'the controversy, leaving the Danes to stand alone, and made 
to Europe the pitiful explanation that the guarantee of the 
London protocol wjis not the individual guarantee of England, 
but was made jointly by the great powers, so that no one of 
them was bound to enforce it save jointly with others ! This 
event justly injured England's influence in Europe. Prussia 
and Austria now sent 45,000 men into Holstein, Marshal 
Wrangel and Prince Frederick Charles commanding the 
Prussians, and Gablentz the Austrians. The Danes were 
commanded to evacuate Schleswig. Upon their refusal, the 
allies entered this duchy also. The Austrians advanced against 
the Dannewerk, a fortification nearly fifty miles long, ex- 
tending across Southern Schleswig from the waters of the 
Schlei on the east to the marshes on the west, and thus de- 
fending the entire peninsula. The Prussians moved east- 
ward, and at night during a snow-storm crossed the Schlei 
at Amis, February 2, 1864, compelling the Danish general 
to abandon the Dannewerk to the Austrians, who then pur- 
sued the Danes, and defeated them in a bloody battle at Oe- 
versee. The Danes retreated northward beyond Flensburg, 
and behind the Diippel fortifications. These fortifications ex- 
tend across the peninsula which separates the bay of Flens- 
burg on the south from the Alsen Sound on the north and 
east, and defend the passage to the island of Alsen and the 
city of Sonderburg. They were strong, both by nature and 



688 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VL 

by art, and well adajjled to protect the Danes against the 
superior force of the Prussians. The regular siege was un- 
dertaken by Prince Frederick Charles. On April 18 all was 
ready for an assault, and the Prussians stormed the fortifi- 
cations, and behind them captured the defenses of the two 
bridges to Alsen, though at the cost of 70 officers and 1200 
men killed. 

§ 27. Meanwhile the Austrians and the Prussian Guard in- 
vaded Jutland, and began to bombard Fredericia; but the 
Danes, after the fall of their intrenchments of Diippel, evacu- 
ated the city. In an engagement at Riigen the Prussian 
fleet successfully resisted a superior naval force of the Danes. 
England was now#striving to mediate, and invited the five 
great powers to a conference at London. An armistice was 
agreed on from May 12 to June 26, and it was proposed to 
divide Schleswig according to the nationality of the people ; 
but the Danes refused, and the war was renewed. Early on 
the morning of June 29, the Prussians, under Herwarth von 
Bittenfeld, by a masterly movement, crossed to the island of 
Alsen, and took it. The allied troops passed the Lymfiord, 
and marched to the extreme point of Jutland. Denmark 
finally accepted a peace, the preliminaries of which were de- 
termined at Vienna, August 1, and which was finally signed 
October 30, 1864. The King of Denmark ceded all his claims 
upon the Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein and Lauenburg to 
the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia. 



CHAPTER XXXIH 

THE "WAR OF 1866 AND THE NOETH GERMAN BUND, 
1866-1871. 

§ 1. Schleswig-Holstein and the Claims of Prussia. § 2. The Gastein Con- 
vention, August 14, 1865. Prussian Plan of a Federal State. § 3. Prep- 
arations for War. Alliance with Italy. § i. The Diet Broken up. § 5. 
Prussia Invades Saxony, Hanover, and Hesse. § 6. Proclamations of the 
Hostile Monarchs. § 7. The Campaign against the King of Hanover. § 8. 
The Prussians Occupy Saxony and Enter Bohemia. § 9. Battles of Trau- 
tenau and Nachod. § 10. Prussian Successes in Bohemia. Both Armies 
Concentrate near Sadowa. § 11. Battle of Kouiggratz. § 12. Cession of 
Venetia to France. § 13. Prussian Advance. Armistice and Prelimina- 
ries of Peace. §§ 14, 15. Campaign of Falkenstein on the Main. § 16. 
Continued by Manteuffel. § 17. Peace between Prussia and the Smaller 
States of Germany. § 18. Attitude of France and Russia. § 19. The North 
German Confederation of 1867. § 20. Progress of National Union in Ger- 
many. § 21 . Three Years of Peace. § 22. The Eoyal Family of Prussia. 
§ 23. Prince Frederick Charles. § 24. Other German Princes in the Army. 
§ 25. Bismarck, Moltke, and Von Boon. § 26. Steinmetz and Falken- 
stein. § 27. Other Prussian Generals. 

§ 1. The joint enterprise of the two great German powers, 
in wresting Schleswig and Holstein from Danish rule, was no 
sooner triumphantly completed than all the old jealousies 
and disputes broke out with renewed violence between these 
powers, and among the minor states of the confederation. 
At the beginning of the invasion, indeed, the Germans seem- 
ed to be working for the common purpose of placing Prince 
Frederick of Augustenburg on the ducal throne. He follow- 
ed the invading army to Holstein as a sovereign; and the 
people, now well assured that Denmark could not again re- 
duce them to subjection, welcomed him with delight. The 
whole German people, too, seemed to acquiesce in the prospect 
of his accession. In the London conference, Bismarck him- 
self proclaimed that Germany held the duchies in trust for 
their hereditary prince, and recommended the union of them 
under him. But when the success of the German alliance 
was complete, the plans and claims of Prussia took a bolder 

Yy 




l>r»wD by Herui.BerKliaus 



690 HISTORY OF GEEMANY. Book VI. 

form. Austria, and some of the smaller states, had expected 
to establish in Schleswig-Holstein a new member of the con- 
federation on the northern frontier of Prussia, strong enough, 
when influenced and supported by them, seriously to embar- 
rass the aspiring monarchy. The course of Prince Frederick 
himself showed that he would be no friend to the reconstitu- 
tion of Germany under Prussian primacy. The bold demand 
was therefore made from Berlin that the trooj^s of Schles- 
wig-Holstein should be incorporated with the army of Prus- 
sia ; that the foreign relations of the duchies should be sub- 
jected to the control of the same power; also that the fed- 
eral fortress of Rendsburg, the port of Kiel, and the control 
of the canal to be built across the peninsula, should be given 
to Prussia, Prince Frederick strove to escape from these 
hard conditions. But on February 22, 1865, Prussia openly 
made the same demands of Austria, the two powers holding 
Schleswig-Holstein in joint possession, and even insisted that 
a "temporary" cession of the duchies should be made to 
Prince Frederick. Austria then, by a declaration of March 
5, closed the negotiations. Prince Frederick decisively re- 
jected the Prussian demands, and began at his court in Kiel 
to prepare for resistance. Prussia persisted in its require- 
ments ; the smaller states of the German Confederation took 
the part of Austria and of the prince, and civil war in Ger- 
many seemed inevitable, although the decisive policy of Bis- 
marck failed to receive the support even of the Prussian 
House of Deputies, and the aggressive minister himself be- 
came the object of fierce denunciation among the people. 

§ 2. But the threatened storm was once more averted. At 
a personal interview between the Emperor of Austria and the 
King of Prussia, the Gastein Convention of August 14,1865, 
was adopted, by which Prussia obtained Lauenburg abso- 
lutely on payment of an indemnity in money to Austria; 
and the two duchies were to be governed, Schleswig by Prus- 
sia, and Holstein by Austria, without forfeiture by either 
power of its joint claim to both. Bismarck was made a 
count for his diplomatic conduct of these affairs. But the 
agreement at Gastein only postponed the struggle. The 
party of the Prince of Augustenburg, to which Austria in- 
clined, continued to press its claim? Prussia resolved to 



Chap. XXXIII. AGGRESSIVE POLICY OF PRUSSIA. 691 

enforce its demands upon the duchies, and to insist on the 
incorporation with itself of other states of Germany, at least 
in their military organization. Austria threatened to hand 
over the affairs of Schlesvvig-Holstein entirely to the confed- 
eration, which was sure to decide against Prussia. On March 
16, 1866, Austria called on the courts which were entirely 
under its influence, especially Saxony, Bavaria, Wirtemberg, 
and Darmstadt, to set themselves in readiness for wai*. Prus- 
sia was already prepared, and went to work at once with en- 
ergy to reconstitute the whole German Confederation. On 
March 24 the Prussian government sent a circular letter to 
all the German courts, in which it said : " Prussia, by its sit- 
uation, its German character, and the German patriotism of 
its rulers, is required to seek its own security within the lim- 
its of Germany. For this purpose a reformation of the en- 
tire confederation is essential. If Prussia is not confident of 
Germany, its situation imperils it beyond most other states 
in Europe. But the fate of Prussia ultimately involves that 
of Germany, and if Prussia's strength were broken, the share 
of Germany in European politics would be but a passive one. 
The German Confederation, in its present form, exposed to 
danger on every side, will fail in its purpose, and nothing 
can then save Germany from the fate of Poland." The let- 
ter also demanded from each government a reply, distinctly 
announcing how far Prussia might rely uj^on its support if at- 
tacked by Austria, and called for the assembling of a German 
Parliament, to be chosen by general election. 

§ 3. This great plan, which had been the aim of Prussian 
politics for twenty-five years, met with the most bitter op- 
position. Austria vigorously prepared for war. The smaller 
German states, including Hanover and Hesse, regarded their 
sovereignty as in danger. Even in Prussia the successes of 
1864 and 1865 had not silenced the opposition, and the policy 
of the government was loudly denounced in the House of 
Deputies, in numerous public meetings, and in nearly all the 
daily journals. Indeed, the opposition included by far the 
greater part of the intelligence and patriotism then engaged 
in political life. For the government associated its energetic 
foreign policy with continued usurpations of power at home, 
and went ever further in its infractions of the constitution 



692 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VL 

and its arbitrary treatment of the liberal orators and press. 
But no opposition weakened its resolve, Italy had not been 
made " free from the Alps to the Adriatic" by the war of 
1859, and Prussia formed an alliance with that state against 
Austria, by a secret treaty signed April 8, 1866. It was no 
secret, however, that the Italian government would join Prus- 
sia in case of war with Austria ; for the prospect of such a 
war wa? enough to fire the whole peninsula with zeal for the 
emancipation of Veuetia, and the government could not have 
resisted the movement. Austria handed over the Schleswig- 
Holstein question to the confederation ; and Prussia imme- 
diately declared the Gastein Convention broken, and sent an 
army of 20,000 men into Holstein. Austria summoned the 
" States" of Holstein (June 5, 1866), but Prussian troops took 
possession of the legislative hall (June 1), and abolished the 
government of the duchy. Gablentz, who had but 3800 Aus- 
trians in Holstein, was commanded to avoid a conflict ; but 
Austria called together the German Confederation, and Prus- 
sia at once proclaimed its new constitution for the confeder- 
ation (June 10), excluding Austria from Germany, and pro- 
viding for the rest a union similar to that afterward adopted 
by the North German Confederation. The people of South 
Germany especially became highly embittered against Prus- 
sia, while the Prussians themselves sadly and soberly looked' 
forward to a civil war. There was no enthusiasm among 
the people, a large majority of them regarded the policy of 
the government as aggressive, and preferred peace. It was 
not until the issue was clearly drawn upon the question of 
the national unity of Germany that public opinion condoned 
and acquiesced in the measures of Bismarck. 

§ 4. On June 11 Austria proposed in the confederation to 
put its troops on a war footing against Prussia ; and Prussia 
replied that if the proposition were adopted, it would regard 
the confederation as dissolved. On June 14 the motion, 
modified so as to include only the troops which were neither 
Austrian nor Prussian, was declared adopted by nine votes 
against six, although some of the votes counted in the ma- 
jority were disputed. The Prussian embassador at once pro- 
tested, declared the confederation dissolved by its unconsti- 
tutional proceedings, and ofifered the new constitution pro- 



Chap. XXXIII. PRUSSIA BEGINS THE WAR. 693 

posed by Prussia as the basis of a new league with all the 
states which would accept it. With Prussia, the states of 
Mecklenburg, Oldenburg, Brunswick, Weimar, Coburg-Gotha, 
Altenburg, Bremen, and some others, withdrew from the Diet ; 
while Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Saxony, Darmstadt, and even — 
though under compulsion — Baden, took up arms. But Aus- 
tria and its allies reckoned too much on the unreadiness of 
the Prussian government and the backwardness of its people. 
The Prussian " nation in arms," as it was justly called by the 
king himself, entered the field reluctantly, indeed, and very 
few of the soldiers themselves approved the policy of their 
rulers which forced the conflict ; but when once the war was 
upon them, all political diflerences among them were forgot- 
ten. The very first movements of troops were accompanied 
by a proclamation, declaring that the cause for which Prussia 
took up arms was that of the union of Germany, and the es- 
tablishment of a Parliament representing the German nation. 
And from that time all the patriotic energy of which the na- 
tion was capable was thrown into the war. 

§ 5. On June 15 Prussia demanded of Saxony, Hanover, 
and Hesse that they should at once restore their armies to a 
peace standard, remain neutral, and send representatives to a 
German Parliament, on penalty of forfeiting their indejiend- 
ence. King George V. of Hanover, after some hesitation, 
followed his personal inclinations, and adhered to Austria. 
Frederick William, Elector of Hesse, obstinately pursued the 
same course, in direct opposition to his own estates, which 
refused, by a vote of 35 to 11, to grant any supplies for the 
war. The Saxon minister, Beust, was the most zealous ene- 
my of Prussia. Thus all these governments rejected the ul- 
timatum, and the next morning, June 16, Prussia invaded 
the lands of all. The Austrians evacuated Holstein early in 
June. General Manteuifel now crossed the Elbe, Vogel von 
Falkenstein advanced from Westphalia, and on June 17 Gen- 
eral Goben's division occupied tne city of Hanover. General 
Beyer, from the Rhine province, entered Hesse, on June 19 
occupied Cassel, and took prisoner the elector, who still re- 
jected all terms of accommodation. The Hessian troops es- 
caped southward, and joined the eighth army corps of the 
confederation. King George collected his army in haste at 



694 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

Gottingen, but neglected to secure his retreat southward 
through Hesse. General Beyer cut off the way to Cassel; 
so that the king resolved to retire through Thuringia to join 
the Bavarians. He marched, with his 18,000 men, by Heilig- 
enstadt to Miihlhausen, but with such delays that General 
Falkenstein was able to throw troops from Cassel between 
him and Eisenach. Beyer then moved toward Eisenach, whith- 
er also Goben's division came from Gottingen by railway ; 
and five battalions of Manteufiel's troops were sent forward 
to Gotha by way of Magdeburg. General Flies, with about 
8500 infantry and only 300 cavalry, was sent forward as the 
advance guard to check the march of the Hanoverians. 

§ 6. This general advance of the Prussian armies gave 
pause to diplomacy, and began the war. On the day after it 
began, June 17, the Emperor Francis Joseph issued a procla- 
mation to the people of Austria, declaring that his government 
had ofiered no provocation to Prussia and Italy ; but that 
these powers had united in a resolute effort to humiliate and 
divide the empire. He explained his refusal to submit to 
the proposed Paris Congress of powers the question of ceding 
a part of his territory; and threw the blame of the Schles- 
wig-Holstein quarrel, and of the schism in the confederation, 
wholly upon the ambition of Prussia, This dignified and 
forcible state paper was well received at the time by neutral 
nations. On June 18 King William of Prussia also pub- 
lished a manifesto to the nation. He declared that the Fa- 
therland was in danger; that he had sought friendly relations 
with Austria, but its princes could not forget they had once 
ruled Germany, and treated the rapid growth of Prussia as 
that of a hostile rival; that its policy was to weaken and 
dishonor Prussia; that for this purpose it had induced its al- 
lies in the confederation to violate the constitution. The 
king referred to his own policy in organizing the army, which 
he had adopted years before in anticipation of this crisis, and 
pointed with pride and confid'ence to his people in arms. Ex- 
plaining that every effort had been made, in common with, 
England, France, and Russia, to find a peaceful solution of 
the questions at issue, and had been defeated by Austria, he 
appealed to God and the people to hold him blameless for 
the war. The proclamation concluded with the promise, in 



Chap. XXXIII. CONQUEST OF HANOVER. 695 

case of victory, to recoHstitute the loosely formed confedera- 
tion of the German states in a firmer and more beneficial 
union. The proclamation gave clear expression to the policy 
of German unity ; and as it became clearer every day that 
Prussia adopted this policy sincerely, and not as a mere pre- 
text, so the cause of Prussia in the war steadily gained mor- 
al strength and sympathy, both throughout Germany and 
wherever in other countries the welfare of Germany was de- 
sired. 

§ v. The Hanover troops on June 22 were at Mtihlhausen, 
and might then have escaped easily by way of Eisenach. 
But upon a rumor that the passes in that direction were 
guarded, they resolved to retreat by Gotha; and therefore 
marched to Langensalza, June 23. Here King George expect- 
ed the Bavarians to come to his rescue by way of Eisenach. 
In order to gain time, negotiations with Berlin, by way of 
Gotha, were renewed, and on June 25 an armistice for twen- 
ty-four hours was signed. The next day King William of- 
fered an honorable capitulation, and an alliance on the terms 
proposed by Prussia June 10, guaranteeing the independence 
of Hanover. But once more King George refused, and the 
refusal cost him his crown. He returned to Langensalza, and 
took up a strong position behind the Unstrutt. General Flies, 
with the Prussian advance guard, pursued him, under orders 
to watch him closely, but to make no attack. But on June 
27, the general, unable to restrain his zeal, made a general 
charge with his inferior forces, and was repulsed with heavy 
loss. Even on that night the Hanoverians might have es- 
caped through Gotha. But during the night Falkenstein 
took possession of this road, while Manteufiel appeared at 
Heiligenstadt in their rear. They were now surrounded by 
constantly increasing bodies of troops, and nothing could be 
hoped even from the Bavarian army. On June 29 King 
George surrendered his entire array. The troops were sent 
home ; the king himself and the crown-prince repaired to Vi- 
enna. 

§ 8. The Prussians invaded Saxony with the same prompt- 
ness and eificiency. On June 18 they occupied Dresden, and 
on the next day Leipsic. The Saxon troops marched south- 
ward to join the Austrians in Bohemia, where, under cover 



k 



696 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

of the mountains, a host of mingled Germans, Magyars, 
Sclaves, and even, on compulsion, Italians, was gathering un- 
der the command of Benedek. It consisted of seven army 
corps, two of which were commanded by the Archdukes Er- 
nest and Leopold, and another by Gablentz, and contained 
in all about 230,000 men, besides the 23,000 Saxons who now 
joined them. But they were by no means ready for battle. 
It had been expected that they would assume the offensive, 
overrun Silesia, occupy Dresden, and threaten Berlin. But 
instead of this the Prussians entered Bohemia, although for- 
eign newspapers reminded them of the great Frederick's re- 
verse at Colin, and compai'ed Bohemia to the lion's den, into 
which many footprints led, while none returned. The Prus- 
sians were somewhat more numerous than the Austrians, 
there being more than 250,000 in their main army, which was 
also better armed and far better supplied than the Austrian. 
It formed in two bodies : the first, under Prince Frederick 
Charles, advanced through Saxony, and from the neighbor- 
hood of Gorlitz and Reichenbach ; the second, under the 
Crown-Prince Frederick William, from Silesia and Glatz. The 
former included the second, third, fourth, and eighth army 
corps, from Poraerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, and the Rhine 
province. The troops from the Rhine, forming the left wing, 
and called the Army of the Elbe, were under Herwarth von 
Bittenfeld. The crown -prince had the corps of Guards, 
and the first, fifth, and sixth array corps, from Prussia, Po- 
sen, and Silesia. The Prussian armies advanced over the 
difiicult mountain paths, and wound through long, narrow 
valleys, in four separate columns. But they met no enemy 
there. Benedek awaited them where these roads enter the 
plain. 

§ 9. On Wednesday, June 27, a day of fasting and prayer 
was observed throughout Prussia. This was the day on which 
the bloody strife began, the day of the battle of Langensalza 
in the west, and of those of Trautenau and Nachod far in the 
east. Here, at the foot of the mountains of Glatz, the Aus- 
trians made, a vigorous efibrt to check the Prussians, and to 
drive them back into the mountain passes. The first army 
corps, on entering Trautenau, was attacked by firing from 
all the houses. On passing beyond, it met and repulsed the 



Chap. XXXIII. PRUSSIAN VICTORIES. 697 

corps of Gablentz. But the Austrians appeared in the front 
in strength, and General Bonin was compelled to retreat to 
the frontier toward Liebenau. At Nachod, the croM^-prince 
and General Steinraetz led their troops down, and, after a 
brilliant fight, routed the Austrians, taking 2500 prisoners. 
On June 28 they advanced to Skalitz, which was captured 
after another bloody struggle, in which Steinmetz won new 
laurels. On the 29th the Aupa was crossed, the Austrians 
still disputing the way, and Gradlitz, in the valley of the 
Elbe, was reached. Here another battle was fought the next 
day, after which the Austrians retired within range of the 
guns of their fortress of Josephstadt. Meanwhile the Prus- 
sian Guard I'ecovered what had been lost at Trautenau. On 
the 2Sth, about 3 o'clock in the morning, they fell upon and 
routed the corps of Gablentz in their bivouacs, taking about 
5000 prisoners. The road as far as Koniginhof was strewn 
with the wounded, with knapsacks, arms, and wagons, and 
crowded with fugitives. In this battle a number of Austrian 
soldiers gave themselves up as prisoners of war, merely in 
order to get food, their supplies being distributed irregular- 
ly, and the country bare around them. These two victories 
enabled the Guards to join Steinmetz, uniting the entire sec- 
ond army, a movement which the Austrians had striven to 
prevent. On the 29th Koniginhof was captured. On the 
same day the news of victory was spread through the king- 
dom : Count Bismarck, who had been so long maligned, 
suddenly became the idol of the people. That night the 
king hastened to the seat of war, 

§ 10, The first army, under Prince Frederick Charles, ad- 
vanced into Bohemia by way of Zittau and Reichenberg; 
and the Army of the Elbe, under Bittenfeld, was still farther 
west. The latter force found the enemy first on the 27th at 
Hiinerwasser, and on the 28th at Turnau and Miinchengratz ; 
while the main body met with the first serious resistance on 
the 28th at Liebenau and Podol, By these battles they se- 
cured the union of the two armies before Munchengriitz, 
The bloody battle of Gitschin, June 29, then brought these 
forces into direct co-operation with the second army under 
the crown-prince and Steinmetz, The next day the king ap- 
peared in the camp ; and the whole of the united forces stood 



698 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

before the surprised enemy, who were concentrated near the 
fortress of Koniggrlitz. The terrible eftects of Dreysa's in- 
vention, the needle-gun, contributed to this series of victo- 
ries ; but they would have been impossible but for the re- 
markable intelligence, discipline, and steadfastness of the 
Prussian soldiers. The persistency of the king and his gov- 
ernment in carrying out the reorganization of the array, in 
spite of the opposition, was now rewarded with general ap- 
proval ; and Von Roon, the minister of war, and Baron von 
Moltke, the chief of staff, shared the honors of the victories 
with the king, the generals, and the soldiers. All Christen- 
dom turned with breathless attention to the Bohemian vil- 
lage of Sadowa, around which were gathered the greatest 
hosts which had ever met upon a battle-field among civilized 
men — on each side a quarter of a million of well-armed sol- 
diers, to decide by force the destiny of Central Europe. 

§ 11. The Elbe, where it flows southward by the fortress of 
Koniggriitz, is already a large stream. Some miles west of 
it, a tributary, the Bistritz, flows also southward, almost par- 
allel with it. East of the latter river the ground is undu- 
lating, forming a series of heights, crowned with little vil- 
lages. It is also cut by a number of ravines, and is sprinkled 
with patches of woodland. Here stood the Austrian army 
under Benedek. Their position had been carefully strength- 
ened by every means in their power. Its defect was that 
the Elbe was behind, and made retreat difficult and perilous, 
in case of defeat. For this and other reasons, Prince Fred- 
erick Charles, who was at Horzitz, opposite them, on the 
evening of July 2, believed that Benedek would attack the 
Prussians on the next day, before the entire second ai-my, 
under the crown-prince, who was then at Koniginhof, could 
be brought up. He therefore hastened to Gitschin, just be- 
fore midnight, to the king, who was about going to rest. A 
council of war was held at once, and they resolved to an- 
ticipate the attack of the enemy. To do this successfully it 
was necessary that the crown-prince, who was still many 
miles away, should be able to make an attack on the left at 
the right time on the morrow. The order was sent him 
through the rainy night by an adjutant. Herwarth, with 
the Array of the Elbe, was placed at the extreme right, at 



Chap. XXXIII. THE BATTLE OF SADOWA. 699 

Nechanitz. The first army, formiug the centre, was to seize 
Sadowa, and hold it, not permitting the enemy to break 
through, until the crown-prince should come up, which he 
was expected to do at two o'clock in the afternoon. Thus 
the order of battle resembled that at Waterloo fifty -one 
years before. It was Thursday, July 3, 1866. The oppress- 
ive heat of the last days of June had been followed by heavy 
rains, so that the ground was soft and the marching toil- 
some. Before eight o'clock the king was on his horse; and 
at that hour the Prussian attack began along the whole line, 
from Nechanitz almost to Biirglitz. It was a bloody and ter- 
rible struggle, which continued until noon without intermis- 
sion ; and then in many parts of the field the artillery had 
exhausted its ammunition, and had resorted to the reserve 
stores ; and yet no ground was gained. Eager glances were 
directed to the left, «uch as Wellington had cast in search 
'of Bliicher. At length the second army came, with a speed 
which was wonderful in view of the difliculties surmounted ; 
and amid the general thunder of cannon, the sound of new 
batteries on the enemy's right was the first announcement of 
the arrival of the crown-prince. It was two o'clock. The 
forward movement was now made vigorously along the whole 
line, but most efiiciently of all on the northeast, where the 
fresh Guards, aiid the men of Silesia, Posen, and Prussia, 
stood. They pressed on from village to village, aiming espe- 
cially at Chlum, the key to the position. Here General Kil- 
ler of Gartringen fell, among many brave men. The Austrian 
army began to be thrown into confusion, and streamed in 
disordered masses back toward the Elbe. The evening sun 
broke through the clouds, lighting up in the distance the tow- 
ers of Koniggriltz, toward which both fugitives and pursu- 
ers hastened. The king, who had shared all the labors and 
trials of the day with the soldiers, was now surrounded by 
joyful throngs, who sliowed in every way their attachment 
to him; while the old song, "Now all thank God," resound- 
ed over the field of battle, as it had long ago at Leuthen. 

§ 12. This great defeat brought the Austrian monarchy into 
serious peril. The decisive campaign had lasted but seven 
days. The day after the battle, Gablentz, whom King Will- 
iam, in the Schleswig campaign, had learned to respect, came 



VOO HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

to negotiate for an armistice ; but on July 4 the news was re- 
ceived that the Emperor of Austria, immediately upon learn- 
ing the extent of the reverse, had ceded Venetia by telegraph 
to the Emperor of the French. It was for Venetia that It- 
aly was contending in alliance with Prussia. Before the 
war began. Napoleon III. advised Austria to cede the Italian 
province to Victor Emanuel voluntarily, or in exchange for 
a sum of money, so as to detach Italy from the alliance 
against it. The pride of the imperial court had rejected this 
advice, and had undertaken the double war. Against the Ital- 
ians the Austrians had been victorious. The volunteers un- 
der Garibaldi made no headway in the Tyrol, nor the Italian 
army against the famous " Quadrilateral ;" indeed, the Arch- 
duke Albert defeated them at Custozza, June 24, and the Aus- 
trian fleet was victorious in a sea-fight at Lissa, July 20. 
But upon the defeat at Koniggriitz the emperor suddenly 
formed the resolution to place Venetia at the disposal of Na- 
poleon III. The object was to secure France as an ally, and 
to prevent the union of Germany under Prussia ; or, at least, 
to quiet Italy by the cession of Venetia, which in any case 
must be made at last, and so set all the Austrian troops at 
liberty to hasten to the defense of Vienna. But these hoj^es 
were not fulfilled. Napoleon, indeed, accepted the cession, so 
that the Austrians could evacuate the fortresses and with- 
draw many of their troops to the capital. But Italy was 
faithful to its alliance, nor did Napoleon attempt to interfere, 
save by peaceful mediation. Meanwhile this act of Austria 
produced the most unfavorable impression in Germany, Avhere 
the enemies of Prussia had continually held up Venetia as a 
bulwark of the confederation against France, and praised 
the Austrian monarchy for its patriotic service to Germany 
in defending this possession. But the appeal of Austria to 
Napoleon as an arbiter in the aff'airs of Germany, though it 
was welcomed by the French with enthusiasm and triumjjh, 
deeply ofiended all German patriots. 

§ 13. The Prussians advanced, and approached Vienna al- 
most without opposition. The crown-prince, with the sec- 
ond army, went to Olmiitz, and near that city gained the 
victory of Tobitschau, July 15, cutting off part of the Aus- 
trian troops from the capital. Prince Frederick Charles and 



Chap. XXXIII. THE PRUSSIANS BEFORE VIENNA. VOl 

the first army, accompanied by the king, went to Briinn ; 
while the Army of the Elbe pursued the most direct course 
to Vienna, through Iglau and Znaym. The Prussian forces 
were brought together again north of Vienna, in full view of 
that city, which was defended only by the Danube, and by 
earthworks hastily thrown up at Florisdorf An attack upon 
Vienna, and its capture, were expected daily. The king re- 
moved his head-quarters to Nikolsburg. But an armistice for 
five days was concluded on July 22, through the mediation of 
France. At the moment this was made known, the extreme 
left wing of the Prussians had passed over the Little Carpa- 
thians, cut off a body of Austrians at Blumenau, near Pres- 
burg, in Hungary, and was on the point of occupying that 
important city, and thus obtaining command of a bridge 
across the Danube, by which they could have reached the 
rear of Vienna. But the Austrians, at the beginning of the 
armistice, marched through the Prussian columns to Pres- 
burg. On July 26 the armistice was extended for four weeks, 
its terms including the preliminaries of peace. After several 
attempts by Napoleon to turn his mediation to the account 
of France, which met with no favor from either of the con- 
tending German powers, it was agreed that Austria should 
withdraw from the German Confederation, and accept the 
changes proposed by Prussia north of the Main — while Ba- 
den, \^^lrtemberg, Bavaria, and Darmstadt should be free to 
form a Bund of their own — yielding to Prussia the exclu- 
sive right to occupy Schleswig-Holstein, for an indemnity of 
20,000,000 thalers, paid by deducting it from the 40,000,000 
which Austria agreed to pay to Prussia as the cost of the war. 
Prussia was further to be permitted to " round off" its fron- 
tiers by annexing the lands which had hitherto separated its 
eastern and western provinces, while the military incorpora- 
tion of the armies of all North Germany with that of Prussia 
would give it, among the great powers, the weight of a con- 
solidated state reaching to the Main. In consenting to these 
terms, Napoleon imagined that he was permanently dividing 
Germany into a North and a South, with Austria as the irrec- 
oncilable enemy of Prussia. It was the fast-growing senti- 
ment of nationality, unseen by him, that brought his scheme 
to nauo'ht. 



702 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

§ 14. The Army of the Main, at first under Falkenstein, and 
afterward under Manteuifel, was as successful in the west as 
the troops in Bohemia. It numbered at first but 45,000 men, 
from all parts of the monarchy, though the Westphalians, 
forming the seventh corps, were in the majority ; and it was 
opposed to a force twice as large. The enemy consisted of 
the eighth corps of the Federal army, 45,000 strong, including 
the soldiers of Wirtemberg, Baden, Hesse, Hesse-Darmstadt, 
Nassau, and Frankfort, under Prince Alexander of Hesse- 
Darmstadt, and of the Bavarians, also about 45,000 strong, 
under the veteran Prince Charles, great-uncle of the young 
king, who also held the command in chief over both corps. 
This army showed its want of resolute leadership in its fail- 
ure to succor the Hanoverians. It was expected to march 
westward from Bamberg to Eisenach, in the Thuringian for- 
est, but had scarcely reached Hildburghausen and Meiningen 
when King George surrendered. On hearing of this, the Ba- 
varian commander resumed his original plan of uniting with 
the eighth corps, so as to be an overmatch for the Prussians. 
The junction, at first designed to take place near Fulda, was 
then arranged to be made farther north, at Hersfeld, and 
Prince Alexander was instructed accordingly. This plan re- 
quired the Bavarians to move w'estward into Hesse, and on 
July 2 they began to march across the northern slope of the 
Rhon-Gebirge. On the same day Falkenstein with his forces, 
now called the Army of the Main, set out to move by Vacha 
to Hunfeld and up the great Frankfort highway. He reach- 
ed Vacha, where the Bavarians made an unsuccessful attack 
at night on his left. Falkenstein then turned Goben's divis- 
ion to face the southeast, and on July 4, at Dermbach, it 
drove back the Bavarian posts ; and Prince Charles, believing 
himself before Falkenstein's entire army, withdrew his troops 
toward the Saale in Franconia. For Prince Alexander, on 
hearing of the defeat at Koriiggratz, had turned southward 
to Frankfort, both to cover that city, the capital of the con- 
federation, and to protect the countries from which his troops 
came. Thus a junction of the two armies could only be ef- 
fected upon a line farther south. 

§ 15. Falkenstein meanwhile advanced to Hunfeld and 
Fulda without resistance. Not "finding the eighth corps 



Chap. XXXIII. THE WAR IN WESTERN GERMANY. 703 

there, he suddenly resolved to attack the Bavarians on his 
left. On July 8 he led his troops in two columns, by a bold 
and difficult march, over the steep Rhon-Gebirge, and came 
upon the right flank of the Bavarians, who were marching 
along the Franconian Saale to Gmiinden, on the Main. Kis- 
singen was attacked by Goben's division, July 10, and taken, 
though only after a brave and bloody resistance by the Ba- 
varian general, Von der Tann, while Manteuffel was conduct- 
ing the fight on the left at Hausen, and Bayer on the right at 
Hammelburg. The Bavarians retreated to Schweinfurt and 
Wiirzburg, and Falkenstein contented himself with a mere 
feint of pursuit, but hastened westward to Hanau, his prin- 
cipal object being to obtain possession of Frankfort. On 
his route he was met by Prince Alexander with the eighth 
corps, now really on his way to join the Bavarians. The di- 
vision of Goben, again in the advance, had marched nearly 
sixty miles in two days, crossing the difficult Spessart, when, 
on the evening of July 13, it came upon the Hesse-Darmstadt 
troops of the eighth corps of tire confederation. Though al- 
most exhausted, they made an attack at Laufach, and drove 
the enemy back. On the next day, at Aschaffenburg, they 
came upon the entire force of the federal troops, but the 
Hessians and Austrians were defeated and the city taken 
before the Baden and Wirtemberg troops came upon the 
field. After these defeats the eighth corps retreated south- 
ward toward the Odenwald, abandoning Frankfort and Nas- 
sau ; and Falkenstein, who entered Frankfort July 16, report- 
ed to the king : " The country north of the Main is at your 
majesty's feet." 

§ 16. General Falkenstein was now recalled from Frankfort 
to be made governor in Bohemia, and was succeeded by Gen- 
eral Manteuflfel. The Federal troops accomplished their junc- 
tion with the Bavarians, and might have advanced against 
the Prussians with a vast superiority of forces. But instead 
of this. Prince Charles kept the Bavarians in a strong posi- 
tion at Wiirzburg, and placed the eighth corps behind the 
Tauber, within reach of the . most important territories from 
which the Federal troops had been collected. The united 
army was nearly 100,000 strong, while the Army of the Main 
now numbered about 60,000, and at the same time Frederick 



V04 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

Francis, Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg, was bringing up a re- 
serve army of 21,000 men from Saxony into Bavaria. But 
it was too late for any further decisive movements. An ar- 
mistice had already been concluded with Austria, and Prus- 
sia only needed to occupy a few prominent points among the 
hostile states of the confederacy as a guarantee for favorable 
terms of peace. On July 21 Manteuffel advanced from Frank- 
fort, and the next day reached Miltenberg, on the Main. On 
the 23d the division of General Flies met the Baden troops 
at Hundsheim, near Werthheim, and repulsed them with loss. 
The next day Manteuifel, with Goben's division, attacked the 
Wirtemberg troops at Tauberbischofsheim, while those of 
Beyer and Flies seized upon the passages across the river be- 
low, at Werbach and Werthheim. The South German troojjs 
fought with valor, but their movements displayed a sad want 
of combination and co-operation, so that they were attacked 
and defeated in detail. On the 24th, Prince Alexander strove 
to establish himself on the plateau between Wiirzburg and 
the Tauber, but the Bavarians, who were to support his left 
wing, came too late, and he was outflanked by Gobeu. He 
retreated, but the Bavarians received the attack at Helm- 
stadt with great resolution ; and when, on the 25th, their allies 
crossed the Main at Wiirzburg, they still fought valiantly to 
cover the retreat. The army of the South Germans was now 
at Wiirzburg, in the apex of the triangle formed here by the 
Main, and was in extreme peril. For besides Manteuffel in 
front of them, who on the 27th opened fire on the citadel of 
the city, the Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg was approaching 
them in the rear, only five days' march distant. 

§ 17. The truce accepted July 26 went into eflect August 2. 
The citadel was given up to the Prussians as a guarantee; 
the eighth corps was dissolved, and the several contingents 
were ordered to their homes. Thus the war on the western 
side was ended. It was a deplorable civil contest among 
Germans themselves, but it taught some valuable lessons. 
The smaller states saw clearly how helpless individual valor 
is without some central controlling power which can govern 
and combine all for the achievement of one purpose. Thus 
this campaign may be regarded. as one of the jirincipal in- 
fluences in bringing about the unity of Germany. Peace was 



Chap. XXXIII. INCREASED POWER OF PRUSSIA. 705 

soon concluded at Berlin with the hostile states of the con- 
federation, with some of them before August 23, when the 
Peace of Prague was signed with Austria. Saxony entered 
the new North German Bund, or confederation, under the 
presidency of Prussia; and that part of the Darmstadt terri- 
tory which lay north of the Main did the same. Prussia an- 
nexed Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Hesse, Nassau, and the 
free city of Frankfort. On August 16 these annexations 
were announced to the Prussian Diet, and the royal patent 
for them was published October 3. Tlius Prussia's hitherto 
divided territories were united and extended. The kingdom 
was directly increased by the accession of nearly 25,000 
square miles of land, with a population of 4,285,700; but its 
influence and position in Europe were increased by this war 
in a proportion incomparably greater than its area. A vast 
change took place in the domestic policy of Prussia also. 
The king and the Diet were reconciled, and the government 
obtained aij overwhelming vote of indemnity for all acts and 
expenditures which had gone beyond the authority and ap- 
propriations voted by the Chambers September 3, while a 
general amnesty was granted by the king for all political of- 
fenses. 

§ 18. The successes of Prussia in the war had been a series 
of surprises to Europe ; but its successes after the war, in 
healing the broach between it and the other German states, 
and preparing the way for a permanent national union, were 
still more startling and unexpected. The jealousy of France 
and of Russia was deeply stirred. On August 6 a note of 
the French cabinet was received in Berlin demanding the 
restoration of the French frontiers, as fixed by the first Peace 
of Paris, May 30, 1814, as a "compensation" to France for 
the recent aggrandizement of Prussia; that is to say, Napo- 
leon must be allowed to dismember Belgium, and to take the 
Germans of Saarlouis, Saarbriicken, and Landau for his sub- 
jects, to restore the proportionate military strength of his 
empire. The Prussian cabinet, however, in view of the fact 
that Prussia at this time had 600,000 men under arms, while 
France could not easily concentrate half that number, re- 
jected the proposition at once ; and Napoleon, in view of the 
same fact, quietly acquiesced. He even labored, soon after, 

Zz 



706 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

to convince the Prussian court that liis own disposition was 
friendly, but that public opinion in France had compelled 
him to make the demand. This diplomatic defeat weakened 
his influence in France, and that of France in Europe. Rus- 
sia, at this time, proposed to the other great powers to take 
under their protection the princes of Germany wlio were de- 
throned by the Prussian annexations ; but the plan was re- 
ceived coldly even by Austria and France, and rejected by 
England, which rejoiced in the growing power of Germany. 
General Manteuffel was sent by Prussia to St. Petersburg, 
where he succeeded in quieting the uneasiness of the court 
for the time. 

§ 19. The great result of the war of 1866 was the North 
German Bund or confederation, formed under a plan pro- 
posed by the Prussian cabinet August 4, by the union of all 
the states south of the river Main, under the presidency of 
Prussia. On February 24, 1867, the North German Parlia- 
ment, of representatives elected in each state, assembled in 
Berlin, to complete the constitution of this union. The work 
was pursued with zeal, and with a spirit of moderation and 
concession on all sides, and its conclusion was formally an- 
nounced on April 17. All the military forces of the North 
German states were placed under the supreme command of 
Prussia, together with the diplomatic control of foreign af- 
fairs, the consular business, and the post-office and telegraphs. 
Provision was made for uniform laws regulating the posses- 
sion of land, the coinage, and weights and measures. In 
other matters of internal administration, each state was left 
to itself On August 13, IV, and 22, 1866, treaties of offensive 
and defensive alliance were made with Wirtemberg, Baden, 
and Bavaria, but they were not published until the middle of 
March following, when a military convention was signed also 
with Hesse -Darmstadt (March 17, 1867). At the adjourn- 
ment of the North German Parliament, on April 17, the king 
announced that the time had come when " the German fa- 
therland can maintain its peace, its rights, and its dignity 
with its united forces." 

§ 20. The benefits which their new union was to confer on 
the German states were not long in showing themselves in 
every department of legislation, administi-ation, and trade; 



Chai>. XXXIII. PEACE AND PROGRESS IN GERMANY. 707 

and attracted the recognition of foreign nations. The people 
of the districts annexed to Prussia in 1866 were so wisely 
governed that most of them soon became not mere subjects, 
but patriotic citizens of that kingdom. The states which had 
then taken up arms against Prussia rapidly forgot their en- 
mity ; and the whole German people soon began to regret 
that the Main had been suffered to limit the new union on 
the south. But the Southern states were closely bound to 
the Northern by their treaties of offensive and defensive alli- 
ance ; and still more so by the Zoll-Verein, which was more 
Hrraly established than ever under the administration of a 
Customs Parliament of all the states. There was still a par- 
ty of "Particularists" in South Germany, whose local prej- 
udices and aims opposed the national policy of union ; but 
its strength depended upon merely temporary interests, and 
it was not important enough to resist the overwhelming pop- 
ular sentiment. In Prussia, and within the new confeder- 
ation, the bitterness of the hostility formerly shown to the 
government now disappeared. Austria at first showed a 
disposition to continue its policy of resistance to Prussian 
ascendency in Germany, and Beust, the late premier of Sax- 
ony, and long the foe of Prussia, was made chancellor of the 
empire ; but the government gradually became more and 
more conciliatory. 

§ 21. Thus confidence in the preservation of peace was 
gradually restored. At the great International Exhibition 
of the Arts in Paris, in the summer of 1867, King William of 
Prussia and the Emperor Alexander of Russia visited Paris 
as guests of Napoleon III. On December 8, 1869, the Gen- 
eral Council of the Roman Catholic Church, summoned by 
Pope Pius IX., assembled at the Vatican, in Rome, and there 
proceeded, during the following year, to crown the work of 
the Council of Trent, and that of the Jesuits for the last three 
centuries, by declaring the infallibility of the pope. These 
events did much to divert public attention throughout Eu- 
rope from international politics ; but the final action of the 
council, July 18, 1870, was announcec^ precisely at the out- 
break of the war, so that it failed to receive the notice and 
consideration which it deserved. 

§ 22. Germany was now once more, after many centuries 



708 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

of distraction and feebleness, a great and recognized power 
in Europe. King William I. was an admirable head for the 
nation in its new life, inasmuch as he had the skill and per- 
sonal disinterestedness to select and gather around the throne 
the ablest men in every department of administration ; to 
protect them against envy and hostility, and to secure to 
them their full meed of popular appreciation. The Crown- 
Prince Frederick William also obtained a large measure of 
favor among the people, and became a source of strength to 
the throne. He was born October 18, 1831, the only son of 
William I., then Prince of Prussia, and Augusta, daughter of 
Charles Augustus, Duke of Weimar ; and unites the military 
genius of his father, and his faithful diligence in his public 
duties, with the devotion of his mother's family to the ad- 
vancement of science and art. His high intelligence, com- 
plete education, and elevated character, with his military ex- 
perience, and his popular social qualities, are regarded as fit- 
ting him admirably for the throne to which he is the heir. 
In 1858 he married the Princess Victoria of England. 

§ 23. The king and the prince are supported on every side 
by a body of men of patriotism and genius, such as Germany 
has never before known since the days of the Reformation 
— among them many of the ruling princes of the land, and 
members of princely families. Among these are several who 
have acquired great military reputation ; especially Prince 
Frederick Charles, the king's nephew, and since 1866 the fa- 
vorite of the Prussian army. He was born March 20,1828, 
and was a zealous soldier from his youth. In 1848 he served 
in Schleswig-Holstein ; and in 1849 in Baden, against the 
revolution. After the reorganization of the army, in which 
he took an active part, he became commander of the third 
army corps, with which ho distinguished himself in Schles- 
wig-Holstein in 1864, at Amis, Diippel, and Alsen. These 
achievements extended his fame throughout Germany; and 
it was greatly increased in 1866 by his services at Gitschin 
and Sadowa. 

§ 24. Albert, the Crown-Prince of Saxony, but one month 
younger than Prince Frederick Charles, also won his first lau- 
rels in Schleswig-Holstein in 1849. In alliance with Austria, 
he served unsuccessfully, but with honor, in the campaign of 



Chap. XXXIII. GERMAN PRINCES AND STATESMEN. 709 

1866, and led his corps of Saxons in excellent order out of 
the general rout at Sadowa. After the formation of the 
North German Confederation, he became the faithful ally 
and friend of Prussia. The Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the 
Grand -Duke of Oldenburg, and Frederick Francis, Grand- 
Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, served in 1866 on the Prus- 
sian side. The last-named prince, born in 1823, and educated 
among citizens at Dresden, became regent of his own coun- 
try in his nineteenth year, and was one of the earliest and 
most disinterested advocates of German union. Prince Will- 
iam of Baden, born in 1829, was educated in the Prussian 
army, and in 1863 left it with the rank of lieutenant-general. 
A patriotic and far-sighted prince, distinguished for his polit- 
ical services to his own country, he reformed the army of 
Baden, upon the Prussian system, immediately after the war 
of 1866. Prince Augustus of Wirtemberg, too, who had be- 
longed to the Prussian army from the year 1831, showed by 
the faithful fulfillment of his duties as commander of the 
Guard, that he could suboi'dinate family associations and am- 
bition to the general welfare. These two South German 
princes were the foremost agents in securing the union of 
the Southern with the Northern states. 

§ 25. But the great work of German regeneration was laid 
on other than jsrincely shoulders. Count Otto von Bismarck 
was now made chancellor of the North German Confedera- 
tion ; and in this oifice gathered the great harvest for which 
he had been laboring throughout his public life. The people 
had learned to recognize in him the worthy successor of Bar- 
on Stein, the great statesman of the war of freedom against 
Napoleon. Bismarck has never been surpassed in practical 
ability as a statesman. His firmness of purpose; his inflexible, 
unalterable devotion to the will and plans of his sovereign ; 
his invincible presence of mind and readiness in all emer- 
gencies ; his boldness and far-sightedness, have made him the 
most influential minister in Europe. His power as an orator 
in the House of Deputies, and his personal qualities as a man 
of humor, of patriotism, and of broad sympathies, have made 
way for him to the hearts of the people, among whom a thou- 
sand stories are told illustrating his extraordinary character 
and ability. What Bismarck was in the state, that was Hell- 



710 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

inuth, Baron Moltke, in the army. Like Stein, Scliarnhorst, 
and Gneisenan, Moltke was a German before he was a Prus- 
sian. He was born October 26, 1800, in the city of Parchim, 
in Mecklenburg, and was educated in the military school at 
Copenhagen. In 1822 he left the service of Denmark for that 
of Prussia, visited the military academy at Berlin, and en- 
tered the army as a lieutenant in the eighth regiment of in- 
fantry. During the long peace he passed through hard tri- 
als, but steadily cultivated his genius as a soldier. His serv- 
ices upon the general staff, in 1832, opened before him a great- 
er career. In 1835 and the three following years, he trav- 
eled through the Turkish dominions in Europe and Asia, 
diligently studying the science of war. By one promotion 
after another, he became, in 1858, chief of the general staff. 
When Napoleon made war on Austria, he planned a campaign 
in France ; and when Austria prosecuted the war without 
Prussia, he went in person to the Austrian head -quarters, 
and wrote his classical work upon "The Italian Campaign 
of 1859." Up to this time Von Moltke was little known out- 
side of military circles; but the Danish war of 1864, and 
above all the great struggle of 1866, afforded him an oppor- 
tunity for exercising his wonderful powers in planning a cam- 
paign. The admirable combination of all parts of the army, 
with the precision of a great machine working for a single 
purpose, was Moltke's work. After that time he became the 
organizing head of the armies of the North German Confed- 
eracy. His cool, calm thoughtfulness ; his power firmly to 
grasp the outlines of the situation, amid all confusing details, 
and to act with the most rapid boldness, yet always with the 
profoundest deliberation, distinguish him as the most emi- 
nent soldier in Europe. The minister of war, Albert von 
Roon, was also educated by hard and long experience. He 
was for many years active in the high-schools of the military 
art, and made a close and careful study of the auxiliary sci- 
ences, and especially of geography. He was charged by the 
king with the great work of reorganizing the army, and 
carried it out patiently, uninfluenced then by hatred and op- 
position, as afterward by general praise, 

§ 26. Among the generals to whom independent commands 
were assigned, were two veterans, who confirmed the old 



Chap. XXXIII. STEINMETZ AND FALKENSTEIN. 711 

Prussian tradition that aged generals could inspire armies 
with youthful enthusiasm, and refuted the doctrine of the 
French Revolution that only young men could become great 
warriors. These were Steinmetz and Falkenstein. Steinmetz 
was born at Eisenach, December 27, 1796, of a family Avhich 
had long given soldiers to the Prussian army. He was edu- 
cated at the military school in Culm. Falkenstein was born 
January 5, 1795, in Silesia. Left an orphan, when a child, he 
was destined by his uncle, the Bishop of Breslau, for the 
Church ; but his own inclinations made him a soldier. Both 
served as officers in their early youth, under York and Blu- 
cher, in the war for German freedom, and both then devoted 
themselves to the patient and thorough study of military 
science. During the long peace, Steinmetz, like Von Roon, 
became teacher and conductor of a military school; while 
Falkenstein pursued the peaceful art of painting on glass. 
Both were old men when the war of 1866 called them to the 
important commands in which they made their fame. 

§ 27. We can but mention the names of a few distinguished 
generals who added to the strength of the German army at 
this time. Among them was Fransecki (born 1807), who de- 
fended the wood of Benatek in the battle of Sadowa; Kirch- 
bach (born 1809); Manteuffel, formerly governor of Schles- 
wig, and Falkenstein's successor, in 1866, in command of the 
Army of the Main ; Goben" (born 1816), who first distin- 
guished himself at Diippel and Alsen, and afterward in the 
Army of the Main ; and Werder (born 1808), who served long 
in the general staiF, and fought in Schleswig-Holstein, as well 
as at Gitschin and Koniggratz. As chiefs of Staff, Voigts- 
Rheetz (born 1809) in the first army, Blumenthal (born 
1810) in the second army, and Sperling and Stiehle, did ad- 
mirable service. In the Bavarian army. General Von der 
Tann (born 1815) attracted the attention of all Germany in 
Schleswig-Holstein, in 1848 and 1849; and showed great abil- 
ities afterward, which were confined and hampered, however, 
by the unfortunate political relations of Bavaria. All these 
examples of military genius served to indicate the strength 
with which Germany, if assailed by any foreign power, could 
defend its right to develop its own union in its own way. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE WAR OF 1870 TO THE SURRENDER OF SEDAN. 

§ 1. Napoleon III. Relations of France with Prussia. § 2. The Luxem- 
burg Question. § 3. The Army in France. § 4. Prince Hoheni;ollern 
and the Spanish Crown. France Declares War. § 5. French Plans and 
Preparations. § 6. Movements of the German Armies. § 7. Affair at 
Saarbrizcken. § 8. The French Defeated at Weissenbourg. § 9. At Worth. 
§ 10. At Saarbriicken. § 11. Effect of the German Victories. § 12. Re- 
treat of the French toward Chalons. § 13. They are Defeated at Cour- 
celles. § 14. At Vionville and Mars la Tour. § 1.5. And again at 
Gravelotte. § 16. New Plans of Campaign on both Sides. § 17. Mac- 
Mahon's March to Sedan. § 18. Battle and Capture of Sedan. 

§ 1. France had been for nearly a century the land of rev- 
olutions. One government after another had been set up, 
only to fall when it lost, by any means, the favor of the mob ; 
and the whole political and social system was shattered by 
the constant reorganizations to which it had been subjected. 
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, chosen president of the republic 
September 10, 1848, usurped the military dictatorship De- 
cember 2, 1851, and the next year was declared emperor as 
Napoleon HI. By the most unscruj^ulous means, and at the 
cost of constantly increasing taxes and debt, he maintained 
his power, and preserved order and peace at home for more 
than ten years. Manufactures and trade flouiished ; and the 
people, deprived of a free political life, devoted themselves 
more than ever to the pursuit of wealth and of j^leasure. 
The government steadily appealed to the passions and the 
vanity of the mob, and undertook to satisfy them for the 
Avant of freedom by promising " glory," which seemed as 
necessary to them as bread. The brilliant success of the em- 
pire in the Crimean War (1853-1856) and in Italy (1859) sat- 
isfied the French that their master was the arbiter of Eu- 
rope, But in later years fortune seemed to turn against Na- 
poleon. During the great rebellion in the United States, he 
invaded Mexico, and set up a dependent empire under Max- 
imilian, the brother of Francis Joseph of Austria; but was 



Chap. XXXIV. THE CAUSES OF THE WAR. 713 

compelled to withdraw, after sacrificing thousands of lives 
and millions of treasure, and to abandon Maximilian to the 
vengeance of the Mexicans, who put him to death June 9, 
1867. The republican opposition in France began to gath- 
er strength. The French were surprised and alarmed by the 
victories of Prussia in 1866. Napoleon had reason to hope 
for a long civil war, which would exhaust Germany, or at 
least for a decided Austrian victory. In either case he might 
step upon the scene as the arbiter of the strife, demand ces- 
sions of territory on the Rhine, annex Belgium, and assume 
a protectorate over Germany. But the result was very dif- 
ferent from this. Prussia was now in possession of a mili- 
tary strength beyond that which the first Napoleon ever 
wielded, and Germany was far more united and far stronger 
than it had ever been. Napoleon III. would have been too 
prudent of himself to attack Prussia; but the French people 
and the army were excited to the highest pitch by jealousy 
of German power and exploits; and some of their statesmen, 
such as Thiers, made it the burden of their attacks on the 
emperor that he had permitted Germany to become united. 
"Compensation for Sadowa" became a general cry. The 
French government very quietly and cautiously presented 
its claims for " compensation " — that is, for cessions of terri- 
tory on the frontier of Germany — to reconcile France to the 
changes in Europe ; but Prussia refused to recognize them. 
The loudest voices among the French called attention to the 
rapid growth and consolidation of the German power, while 
France remained stationary, and restlessly clamored for an 
assertion of the pre-eminence of their country. 

§ 2. The Luxemburg question almost led to war in 1867. 
By the treaties of 1815 and 1839, the Grand-Duchy of Lux- 
emburg and part of the Dutch province of Limburg were 
placed under the sovereignty of the King of Holland, but re- 
mained members of the German Confederation. When the 
confederacy was dissolved in 1866, these districts lost their 
connection with Germany. The city of Luxemburg, a strong 
fortress of the confederation, was still occupied by Prussian 
troops, France demanded the evacuation of this fortress 
upon its frontier, and Napoleon began negotiations with the 
King of Holland for the annexation of Luxemburof to France. 



VI 4 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

In the press and the legislative assemblies of both nations 
the dispute was carried on warmly. It was agreed, however, 
that a European conference at London should settle the con- 
troversy ; and the decision was that the fortress of Luxem- 
burg should be evacuated by the Prussians and destroyed; 
and that the whole territory should remain under the sov-. 
ereignty of the royal house of Holland, with its neutrality 
guaranteed by the European powers (May 11, 186V). It con- 
tinued, however, to belong to the Zoll-Verein, so that its com- 
mercial interests were closely associated with those of Prussia. 

§ 3. If the danger of war was avoided at this time, it was 
perhaps less because France was desirous of peace than be- 
cause the reorganization of the French army was still incom- 
plete ; and it was not yet fully supplied with its new arm, 
the powerful Chassepot rifle, the superior of the needle-gun. 
But this reorganization was perfected during the years 1867, 
1868, and 1869, by Neil, the minister of war, and France was 
generally regarded as fully equal in strength to Prussia and 
the North German Confederacy. Under the pressure of the 
republican opposition, Napoleon meanwhile made large con- 
cessions to the parliamentary theory of government, with 01- 
Hvier, hithei'to a liberal, as his prime-minister ; and obtained 
?i plebiscite, or general vote of the people, approving his new 
policy and sustaining his government. The majority was a 
large one, and strengthened his position, though the negative 
votes, even in the army, were numerous enough to excite 
some apprehension. 

§ 4. The year 1870 opened without any renewal of the un- 
easiness which had been recently felt as to the relations of 
the two countries. King William I. was at the baths of 
Ems in June, when the tidings came that the Spaniards, who 
had dethroned their queen, Isabella, in 1868, now oflTered their 
crown, through General Prim, president of the ministry, to 
Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigraaringen, a descendant 
of the younger branch of the house of Hohenzollern, which 
had been separated for centuries from the elder branch, but 
had during the last two generations been in high favor at 
the Prussian court. In France this offer was regarded as a 
new effort for aggrandizement on the part of Prussia ; and 
the Due de Grammont, French minister of foreign affairs, at 



Chap. XXXIV. THE OCCASION OF THE WAR. 715 

once announced in the Chamber that France would never 
consent to such an extension of Prussian power. King Will- 
iam I., required by France to forbid the acceptance of the 
Spanish crown by Leopold, declined to do so, but showed a 
spirit of conciliation ; and Leopold himself voluntarily with- 
drew his name from the candidacy, so that every ground for 
a dispute seemed to be removed. But Grammont declared 
the withdrawal of the prince a merely incidental matter, and 
demanded, through Count Benedetti, the French minister at 
Ems, that the King of Prussia should pledge himself never 
to support the candidacy of a Hohenzollern prince for the 
crown of Spain ; at the same time suggesting that a letter of 
apology from King William to the emperor would be the 
proper remedy for the wounded pride of the French people. 
The pride of the king and of the Prussian people was aroused 
by these demands, and Benedetti was politely dismissed. All 
Germany felt deeply the humiliation which had been of- 
fered to the king, and cried out that if France were bent on 
war, it should have war to the knife. King William hastily 
returned from Ems, and at Brandenburg, where Count Bis- 
marck joined him, learned that Benedetti's dismissal had been 
received in France as an attack upon the national honor, and 
that the order to mobilize the army had already been giv- 
en, while the Senate and the people had heard Grammont's 
warlike declarations with Avild applause. The king and the 
crown-prince were welcomed in Berlin with enthusiasm, and 
the whole nation echoed the shouts of the people of the cap- 
ital. On July 19 the Diet of the North German Confedera- 
tion met, and zealously placed the militarj- resources of the 
nation at the service of the government. On the same day 
the formal declaration of war by France was received in Ber- 
lin. 

§ 5. " France is entirely ready," reported Marshal Le Boeuf, 
the minister of war ; and Napoleon therefore consented to 
the war for which his ministers were so zealous. But he had 
in his control little more than 300,000 men, and his means 
of transportation were imperfect, so that even these could 
not be brought to the frontier at once. Napoleon knew that 
the Prussians alone could oppose him with 350,000 men, 
which the rest of Germany would increase to 550,000, But 



716 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

his expectation was to be ready before the Germans ; to cross 
the Rhine at Maxau with 250,000 men, and to compel the 
Soutli Germau states either to join him or to remain neutral. 
After one victory, he expected to have Austria, Italy, and 
Denmark on his side, and even ventured to expect revolts in 
Hanover, Hesse, and Saxony. With this plan in view, he 
collected 100,000 men at Strasburg; the main army, which 
he was to command in person, 150,000 strong, assembled at 
Metz ; and the reserve of 50,000 men, under Canrobert, held 
the fortified camp at Chalons. The army of Metz was then 
to join that of Strasburg, and they would cross the Rhine to- 
gether. The emperor intrusted the regency to the Empress 
Eugenie, and on July 28 entered Metz with the prince im- 
perial, then fourteen years of age. But he was far from find- 
ing all ready for the advance. The Germans were before- 
hand with him. 

§ 6. The German leaders had long resolved upon the course 
to be pursued in case of a war with France. In the winter 
of 1868 and 1869, General Von Moltke drew up a memorial, 
showing that Napoleon's plan must probably be first to in- 
vade South Germany, and carefully detailing the method by 
which the Prussians or the Germans ought to meet and de- 
feat his efforts. By concentrating the German troops in the 
Palatinate, they would be in a position to stop the enemy's 
advance by an attack upon his flank. Moltke's plan was pur- 
sued when the decisive moment came. A first army was 
formed under General Steinmetz, including Zastrow's corps, 
the seventh, from Westphalia, and Goben's, the eighth, from 
the Rhine province ; which marched up from the Lower Rhine, 
and formed the left wing of the German forces. The second 
army, under Prince Frederick Charles, contained the corps 
of Guards, commanded by Prince Augustus of Wirtemberg ; 
the third corps, from Brandenburg, under Alvensleben I. ; the 
fourth corps, from Saxony, under Alvensleben II.; the ninth 
corps, from Schleswig-Holstein and Hesse, under Mannstein ; 
the tenth, from Hanover, Brunswick, and Oldenburg, under 
Voigts-Rheetz ; and the twelfth, from Saxony, under Albert, 
the crown-prince of that kingdom. This army was direct- 
ed to observe the enemy, and to hold itself in readiness to 
march southward or westward. It assembled in the Palati- 



Chap. XXXIV. HOSTILITIES BEGUN. 717 

nate, between the Rhine and the Nahe. South of it lay the 
third army, commanded by the Crown-Prince of Prussia. It 
included the fifth corps, under Kirchbach, from Posen and Si- 
lesia ; the eleventh, from Hesse, Nassau, and Thuringia, un- 
der Bose ; and the first and second Bavarian corps, under Von 
der Taun and Hartmann ; with divisions from Wirtemberg 
and Baden. This army was destined for a direct attack in 
the south, and to hinder the advance of the enemy. Thus on 
August 2, 1870, 450,000 men stood ready in the narrow space 
between Treves and Landau ; while 100,000 more — the first 
corps of Prussians, under Manteufiel ; the second, of Pomera- 
nians, under Fransecki ; and the sixth, of Silesians, under 
Tiimpling — were on their way from the remote frontiers of 
the monarchy. To protect the coast against the French fleet 
and an invasion by sea. General Vogel von Falkenstein was 
made governor of the provinces on the North Sea and the 
Baltic. The troops under him were few, but were thought 
to be enough, strengthened as they were by the patriotic aid 
of the people, to prevent any invasion. 

§ 7. The vigor and celerity of the German preparations 
were in strong contrast with the irresolution at the French 
head-quarters. But something must be done to appease the 
thirst of the Parisians for victory ; and on August 2 Napo- 
leon made an attack on Saarbriicken, where Colonel Pestel, 
with four squadrons and two battalions, made such a display 
that the place seemed to be occupied by large detachments. 
The little force withdrew before the advance of a considera- 
ble body of French troops, and Napoleon sent a victorious 
bulletin to the empress, reporting the " battle," and his son's 
" baptism of fire." But it was not yet determined whether 
MacMahon should march to Metz, or whether the Metz army 
should come to him to cross the Rhine. As soon as a move- 
ment was made in the latter direction, the German com- 
manders saw their ojjportunity to carry out their long-stud- 
ied plan of attack. 

§ 8. On August 4, 1870, the Crown-Prince of Prussia, with 
the third army, advanced from Landau and Germersheim 
across the frontier, and attacked Douay's division of Mac- 
Mahon's troops at Weissenbourg. A severe fight took place 
around the ancient walls of this city, and upon the steep hill 



718 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

— the Gaisberg — behind it. The French were compelled to 
retire, many prisoners were taken, and General Abel Douay 
was slain. This first success raised the confidence of the 
Germans every where, and the brave struggle which Prus- 
sians and Bavarians carried on side by side against the com- 
mon foe cemented the union of these countries and of all 
Germany. 

§ 9. MacMahon now in haste drew together his first corps 
and part of the seventh, Felix Douay's, from Upper Alsace; 
and tried in vain also to bring up the fifth corps. General 
Failly's, from the west. With the troops he had, he took up 
a position at Worth, before the passes of the Vosges mount- 
ains, eleven miles south of Weissenbourg, and west of the 
great road to Strasburg, on which the German army was ad- 
vancing. But the army of the crown-prince did not give him 
time to collect all his forces. On August 6, Hartmann, with 
the second Bavarian corps, attacked the strong French lines 
on the heights, from the right; and this movement was fol- 
lowed by an attack along the whole line. The Germans 
pressed on, captured the village of Worth, crossed the deep 
valley and the brook that flows through it, and charged the 
French line of battle, drawn up across the villages of Frosch- 
weiler and Elsasshausen. The attack on these heights, and 
especially on the vineyards occupied by the Turcos and the 
Zouaves, was fierce and bloody work. But when the elev- 
enth corps, and the Baden and Wirtemberg troops, began to 
outflank the French right, MacMahon resolved to retreat. 
The retreat soon became a rout. The marshal, to cover the 
rear, sent two fine regiments of cuirassiers against the Ger- 
mans ; but they fell literally in heaps under the fire of their 
assailants, and gave no protection to the breaking French 
lines. Part of the army turned southward, and reached Stras- 
burg in the evening by railway, in terror and confusion. The 
remainder fled through Reichshofen and Niederbronn to the 
passes of the Vosges ; nor could MacMahon again bring them 
into line on the east side of the mountains. 

§ 10, On the same day, August 6, Lieutenant-General Ka- 
mecke led the fourteenth division, part of the seventh army 
corps, against the steep heights of Spicheren, near Saarbrlick- 
en, which were occupied by the entire second corps of the 



CuAP. XXXIV. THE GERMANS INVADE FRANCE. 719 

French, under General Frossard. The attack resulted in a 
fight still more bloody than that in Alsace. The sound of 
the cannon brought up three other divisions, which hastened 
to take part in the battle. At length even cavalry and ar- 
tillery were successfully taken up to the heights which at 
first the foot-soldier could scarcely climb. Frossard had de- 
clined the support of the third corps, under Bazaine, but he 
now retired to Forbach, beyond the frontier of Lorraine. 
MacMahon was not now able to join the main army of the 
French around Metz, so that the French commanders were 
compelled to endeavor to concentrate their forces farther in 
the rear, toward the Moselle. The campaign had opened suc- 
cessfully for the Germans, and the French invasion of Ger- 
many was for the time impossible ; but the emperor's best 
troops were still in reserve, and the decisive conflict was yet 
to come. 

§ 11. The first false bulletins of victory produced in Paris 
a tumult of wild enthusiasm, which made the sudden tidings 
of disaster doubly crushing to the spirits of the people. On 
the other hand, the fervor and hopefulness of the whole Ger- 
man people were excited to the highest pitch, though their 
feelings of triumph were tempered by the sight of the wound- 
ed, thousands of whom fell into their hands, and wei'e sent 
to the Palatinate and to Baden, and then in widening circles 
through the nation, to be cared for. 

§ 12. The Germans now made a general advance of all 
three of their armies into France. The third army had the 
greatest difficulties to overcome. In several columns, it rapid- 
ly marched through the difficult passes of the Vosges mount- 
ains, and on August 12 came into direct communication with 
the second army. Finding Nancy unoccupied in its front, 
it pursued its way toward Chalons, while the second army 
followed the main body of the French, now placed under 
Bazaine as commander-in-chief, toward Metz. It seemed to 
be the plan of the French to abandon the eastern part of 
France, except the strong fortresses of Metz and Strasburg, 
to collect their entire forces at Chalons, and then to retire to 
Paris, to fight a decisive battle under the walls of the capi- 
tal. But for this purpose it was necessary that Bazaine 
should cross the Moselle at Metz as quickly as possible, and 



720 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

make his way to Chalons by Verdun. This plan was defeat- 
ed by the three great battles fought before Metz in the mid- 
dle of August. 

§ 13. On August 14, before Bazaine succeeded in leading 
his army through Metz to the left bank of the Moselle, the 
first German army overtook his rear guard at Courcelles, east 
of Metz. This compelled the third French corps to accept 
battle; and Bazaine sent back Ladmirault's corps, the fourth, 
to support it. But the Germans drove them under the very 
walls of Metz. This battle destroyed Bazaine's last oppor- 
tunity to make his retreat good to Verdun, without expos- 
ure to flank attacks from the Germans. 

§ 14. In the mean while the second army had crossed the 
Moselle with one corps, and moved southward opposite to 
Metz. Bazaine, still delayed by the necessity of getting his 
troops in order, undertook on the 16th to march to Ver- 
dun ; but was attacked, on leaving Metz, by the third Prus- 
sian corps under General Alvensleben, and by some divi- 
sions of other corps, with such vigor that he supposed the 
entire second army to be in his front, and advanced all his 
forces to meet it. The Prussians occupied the village of St. 
Hilaire, on the west, on the road to Verdun, and the villages 
of Mars la Tour and Vionville, and held them obstinately 
throughout the succeeding struggles. Bazaine feared most 
for his left wing, and for his communications with Metz. On 
this side he gathered his strength for defense, and strove to 
turn the third corps, and especially Buddenbrock's division 
of Brandenburg troops. Here 33,000 men occupied the key 
of the situation, and held it against an army more than twice 
as large, through a fight of three hours, before the first rein- 
forcement of 4600 men reached them, though meanwhile the 
enemy had brought up 57,000 fresh troops. At three o'clock, 
in the height of the battle, when the inequality of forces 
was greatest, there were actually 150,000 French engaged 
against 38,000 Germans. Nor were the additions made to 
this force by the arrival of the fourth and of the remainder 
of the tenth corps moi'e than 31,000 men. But they held their 
ground. At the moment of greatest anxiety, General Alvens- 
leben ordered a desperate charge by two regiments of cav- 
alry, the seventh cuirassiers and the sixteenth uhlans : they 



Chap. XXXIV, THE BATTLES BEFORE METZ. 721 

rode up to the batteries in front and took them ; then fell 
upon columns of infantry and scattered them ; then attack- 
ed a battery of mitrailleuses, when the French cavalry was 
hurled upon them, and they, in their fatigue, had to cut their 
way back along a pathway of blood. But half of them re- 
turned. A similar sacrifice was afterward made of the two 
regiments of dragoons of the Guard. These charges pre- 
vented the enemy from accomplishing his purpose, until fresh 
forces came up, and occupied the positions which had been 
taken at the beginning. 

§ 15. This battle of Vionville, on August 16, was the essen- 
tial preliminary of the decisive action of the 18th, and of the 
great catastrophe which followed. Bazaine gave up the at- 
tempt to march on that day toward Verdun. Nor did he 
venture to move the next day, though tlie northern roads, by 
Etain and Brieg, were still open to him. He preferred, after 
giving his troops a day of rest, to risk a decisive battle. On 
August 17, the entire first and second German armies reached 
the left bank of the Moselle, leaving only the first corps be- 
hind to observe Metz in the rear. Thus 200,000 Germans 
stood ready for the battle of Gravelotte, commanded by the 
king in person, with Prince Frederick Charles, Steinmetz, 
Moltke, Roon, and Bismarck at his side. It was not yet known 
whether Bazaine had not already taken the northern road 
by Etain, so that the left wing of the Germans was necessa- 
rily stretched out in that direction to stoj) him. The right 
wing was therefore drawn back as a reserve. But if he should 
be found in a strong position on the hills- along the Moselle 
near Metz, it was intended to draw in the left wing to turn 
the right flank of the French. This proved to be the case. 
The armies exchanged the directions in which they faced, 
the Germans looking eastward, the French westward. This 
made the prospect for the defeated party the more terrible, 
and the fight the more desperate. The French, indeed, fought 
in these battles before Metz with a valor worthy of their 
fame. They occupied the edge of the plateau running west- 
ward before the forts of St. Quentin and Plappeville. Behind 
the abrupt ravine at Bois de Vaux, on the southwest, stood 
Frossard's second army corps ; north of it, Le Boeuf, with 
the third corps, held the centre ; still further north, behind 

A A A 



722 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

the lines of Armanvilliers, was Ladmirault, with the fourth 
corps ; and farthest north, at St. Privat, Canrobert's corps, 
the sixth. The Guards formed the reserve, stationed behind 
the second and third corps, but too remote from the right 
wing to give it support. The French strengthened their po- 
sition to the utmost, meaning to stand wholly on the defen- 
sive. Their batteries were placed upon the successive flats, 
behind the deep ravines across which the Germans must ap- 
proach them. The lines of infantry, formed one above anoth- 
er, afforded the best possible opportunity for the fire of the 
Chassepot rifle. On the extreme right of the German army, 
behind the narrow ravine of Mance, was the seventh corps, 
with the eighth adjoining it on the north — both under Gen- 
eral Steinmetz. Then came the ninth corps, opposite the 
French centre. The Guards and the twelfth corps formed 
the left wing, commanded by Prince Frederick Charles, with 
the third and tenth corps, which had suffered so much on the 
16th, in reserve. The left wing was still far in the rear, and 
was engaged in wheeling to the right, to reach the enemy's 
front. At noon the ninth corps began an artillery fire upon 
the French centre at Armanvilliers. At the same time, the 
twenty-fifth division of infantry established itself in the wood 
of La Cusse, and maintained the position throughout the 
tight, though with heavy loss. But the seventh and eighth 
corps failed to secure a footing beyond the Mance ravine. 
About four o'clock the Guards took the village of Marie aux 
Cheues, and at five began from this point a charge upon St. 
Privat, the key of the enemy's position. Now came the de- 
cisive moment. But the troops were cut down in such num- 
bers as they advanced across the open ground against the 
strong position in the village, that they were compelled to 
halt, until the Saxons (the twelfth corps), making a wide cir- 
cuit, came in from the north, and joined the Guards, in the 
evening twilight, in storming the enemy's lines. The French 
(the sixth corps) were completely routed. At the same time 
a part of the Guards, with the ninth corps, made a victorious 
attack upon Armanvilliers. The second corps, too, advanced 
from Pont a Mousson through Gorze, and along the narrow 
causeway through the ravine of Mance, though they had just 
arrived from Gei'many, and now saw the enemy for the first 



Chap. XXXIV. BAZAINE DRIVEN INTO METZ. 723 

time, after a march of sixteen hours. They made good their 
position for the night beyond the ravine. The German loss 
in killed and wounded was 20,000 ; the French, though they 
fought in their intrenchments, and upon their own chosen 
ground, reckoned their loss at more than 12,000. But the 
great result of the day was that the French army was broken 
and defeated. 

§ 16. Bazaine during the night withdrew his troops into 
Metz. The plan of escaping westward had utterly failed. 
Napoleon had left Metz on the 14th, and had joined MacMa- 
hon's army. The Germans at once resolved to lay siege to 
Metz, with the army of nearly 200,000 men shut up in it. 
The first army, and most of the second, under the command 
of Prince Frederick Charles — in all about 160,000 men — re- 
mained before Metz for this purpose. The rest of the army 
was destined to advance boldly upon the capital, attacking 
whatever hostile force might be found in the way. A fourth 
army, called the Army of the Maas, was made out of that 
part of the first and second armies not needed at Metz — the 
Guards, the fourth and twelfth corps, and the fifth and sixth 
divisions of cavalry — and placed under Prince Albert of Sax- 
ony. It was designed to co-operate with the third army, that 
of the Crown-Prince of Prussia, in the advance to Paris. The 
two armies were ready to move, when the tidings came that 
the French had abandoned the camp at Chalons, where they 
were expected to concentrate, and that MacMahon had gone 
to Rheims. In short, the way to Paris had been left open, 
in order to execute a plan devised by Count Palikao in Par- 
is, and strongly recommended to Napoleon by the Empress 
Eugenie. For since fortune seemed to have deserted the 
emperor, he had been derided and scorned by the people, who 
would have deified him had he conquered the Rhine. Paris 
was declared in a state of siege, in order to guard against 
rebellion ; the Ollivier and Graramont ministry retired, and 
Palikao assumed the government. It was impossible for the 
emperor to return thither. In spite, therefore, of MacMahon's 
opposition, he adopted the desperate plan of leading the forces 
still left to him, confused and half-organized as they were, 
along the Belgian frontier, in order to reach Metz and release 
Bazaine. The united French army would then turn back 
asfainst the Germans. 



724 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

§ 17. As soon as this movement was known at the head- 
quarters of the third army, where the king and his general 
staff now were, a plan no less bold, but much better consid- 
ered, was adopted. It was determined to turn aside to the 
north, and to prevent the approach to Metz. Since the third 
army had the greatest distance to march, the fourth army 
was prepared to meet the enemy first. MacMahon, with his 
shattered and loosely disciplined troops, could move but slow- 
ly ; so that the fourth army overtook him at the river Maas, 
far away from Metz. He had with him the emperor, and all 
the troops remaining to the empire who were ready for bat- 
tle. He marched by way of Rheims and Rethel, in a long 
curve, on whose radii the two German armies advanced to 
attack him, following the general direction of the Maas. The 
fourth army reached the I'rench at Nouart, August 29 ; and 
on the 30th the Crown-Prince of Saxony, in the battle of 
Beaumont, drove back two corps of them (the sixth and sev- 
enth) behind the river, which he soon crossed in pursuit. The 
third army now came up, holding the left bank of the Maas, 
and cutting off MacMahon's retreat to Paris, as the fourth 
prevented his advance to Metz. The Belgian frontier lay on 
the French rear. Thus hemmed in on every side, MacMahon 
ventured on a final battle at the little fortress of Sedan, on 
the river Maas. The Germans formed the purpose, not only 
of gaining the battle, but of preventing the French from es- 
caping to the neutral territory of Belgium. 

§ 18. The battle of Sedan was fought September 1, 1870, 
under the direct command of King William I., and proved 
the most important victory in the history of Germany, Part 
of the third army crossed the Maas above Sedan, August 31. 
The two Bavarian corps attacked the enemy from the south, 
at the village of Bazeilles, just before Sedan, and the village 
itself was left a heap of ruins. On their right, the fourth 
corps, then northwards, the Guards, and finally the twelfth 
corps, the Saxons, made their advance. Thus the first army, 
as the right arm of the Germans, enveloped the French on 
the south and east, while the left arm, formed of the ninth 
and fifth corps, which crossed the river at Donchery, closed 
in around them in a bow from the west to the north, until it 
met the Saxons. Within the ring, supported by Sedan, the 



Chap. XXXIV. SURRENDER OF NAPOLEON. 725 

French corps of MacMahon, Failly, Douay, and Lebrnn once 
more made a brave resistance. But the German forces press- 
ed ever nearer and more energetically upon them, and the 
French, repulsed wherever they attempted to break through, 
were at length driven back within the narrow limits of the 
fortress of Sedan, with Napoleon among them. Now the 
Germans, approaching nearer, threw their first shells into the 
compact and despairing throng. The pride of Napoleon III. 
gave way ; the city and the army surrendered, and the em- 
peror himself wrote to King William : " Having failed to find 
death in the midst of my troops, it only remains for me to 
lay my sword at your majesty's feet. I remain your majes- 
ty's good brother, Napoleon." On September 2, Napoleon, 
a fugitive from his own troops and from France, left Sedan. 
He was received by Bismarck, and then by King William 
himself, at the little castle of Bellevue, as a prisoner of war. 
The king assigned for his abode, until the end of the war, the 
Wilhelmshohe at Cassel, one of the finest residences in Ger- 
many. MacMahon being severely wounded, the capitulation 
was signed by the second in command. General Wimpfien. 
More than 84,000 men, including 1 marshal, 40 generals, and 
2825 ofticers, were surrendered, with 330 field-pieces, 70 mi- 
trailleuses, and 10,000 horses. On August 31 and September 
1, Bazaine made a desperate efibrt to break the German lines 
on the northeast of Metz, in order to join MacMahon by 
way of Thionville ; but was driven back by General Man- 
teuffel, with the first army corps and some other troops, and 
was compelled to withdraw again behind the fortifications 
of Metz. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE WAR WITH FRANCE CONTINUED. — CAPITULATION OF 
PARIS AND THE PEACE OF FRANKFORT. 

§ 1 . The Republic Declared in Paris. § 2. The Germans Advance to Paris. 
§ 3. Capture of Strasburg. § 4. Bazaine Capitulates in Metz. § 5. The 
Defenses of Paris. § 6. Resources of the Besiegers. § 7. Gambetta in 
Tours. Battle at Artenay. § 8. Garibaldi in Southeastern France. § 9. 
Negotiations and Movements after the Fall of Metz. § 10. First At- 
tempts to Relieve Paris. § 11. Battle at Orleans. § 12. Amiens Taken, 
§ 13. Diplomatic Tour of Thiers. Battle of Beaune la Rolande. § 14. 
Battles of Beaugency. § 15. Campaign of Werder against Bourbaki. 
§ 16. Battle near Amiens. § 17. Bombardment of Paris. § 18. Great 
Efforts of the French to Raise the Siege. § 19. Seven Days of Fighting 
near Le Mans. § 20. Gambetta's Plan for Invading Germany. § 21. The 
Lines of the Lisaine. § 22. Action at Bapaume. German Victory at St. 
Quentin. § 23. Last Efforts to Raise the Siege of Paris. Capitulation 
and Armistice. § 24. Destruction of Bourbaki's Army. § 25. The Terms 
of Peace. § 26. Extent of the German Victories. 

§ 1. The wonderful series of victories by which the Ger- 
mans, in the campaign of a month, had destroyed the armies 
of the French Empire, aroused strong hopes of peace, not in 
Germany alone, but throughout Christendom. After such 
defeats as Gravelotte and Sedan, nothing seemed to remain 
for France but to accept the best terms which the conquer- 
ors could be induced to offer. But to the French the ascend- 
ency and glory of their country were at once objects of pas- 
sionate love and articles of faith. They had been taught for 
generations to regard these as the chief end of their being. 
Moreover, their confidence in their own strength was not yet 
shaken ; it was to bad leadership and to treason that they 
ascribed all their misfortunes. The traditions of the first 
revolution were still fresh in their memory. Had not the re- 
public then armed and inspired the whole nation, and driven 
back from Fi-ance countless hordes of invaders? Could not 
this be done again ? To the mob of Paris, at least, the news 
of Sedan suggested no thought of submission; it but turned 



I 



Chap. XXXV. THE REPUBLIC IN FRANCE. 727 

a share of the furious hatred they indulged for their enemies 
against their own incompetent rulers. The bitterest ene- 
mies of the empire at once assumed the direction of the pas- 
sions of the people. Napoleon was denounced as having for- 
feited his crown ; the empress regent was driven from Paris 
in dismay; and, amid wild confusion, the democratic mem- 
bers of the Chamber joined with the mob of the city in pro- 
claiming the republic, September 4, A new government was 
improvised at once, embracing representatives of the several 
parties, which agreed in nothing save in their irreconcilable 
hatred for the empire, and in their enthusiasm for the suprem- 
acy of France in Europe. The veteran statesman and histo- 
rian, Thiers ; General Trochu, the severe critic of the impe- 
rial army ; the moderate republican Jules Favre, the red re- 
publican Gambetta, both advocates ; the frenzied journalist 
and lampoon-writer, Rochefort ; and the Jew, Cremieux, aft- 
erward the head of the branch government at Tours, each 
took part in it, and the supreme authority of this self-consti- 
tuted committee, when once recognized by the throng in the 
Paris streets, was undisputed in France. The entire civil 
and military administration of the nation passed at once into 
its hands, and within three days it was the only power with 
which the Germans could open negotiations. Its prominent 
members had opposed the declaration of war, and it was 
hoped that their influence would now be thrown for peace. 
But as soon as the cession of the German districts of Alsace 
and Lorraine, with Strasburg and Metz, was demanded, Jules 
Favre, in the name of the new republic, proudly answered: 
"Not a foot of our soil, not a stone of our fortresses." 

§ 2, These declarations were regarded at the time, by the 
Germans and by nearly all Europe, as empty bravado. It 
was believed that the republican leaders desired peace on any 
terms, but did not dare assent to the formal humiliation oi' 
France, as the first act of their government, in the face of 
their own enraged people. Their situation, indeed, was one 
of extreme difficulty: raised to power by a fierce democracy 
to fulfill its blind rage, and yet bound by every consideration 
of prudence and patriotism to end the hopeless war. Their 
own overthrow was imminent if they should refuse to expose 
France to ruin; and they had neither the virtue nor the far- 



728 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

sighted statesmanship to regard the safety of their country 
first of all, and to leave their own vindication to time. The 
war went on. The Germans, indeed, did not pause in their 
military progress, but pressed onward with energy. Sedan 
had scarcely fallen when the third and fourth armies resumed 
their march in several columns to Paris. The third army 
crossed the Seine, and approached the capital from the south 
and southeast; the fourth array from the north and north- 
west. The nearer the Germans came to Paris, the more they 
found the country, which had been a garden, deserted and 
wasted. The roads were destroyed or blockaded, and the ii> 
habitants were gone. The republican government gave its 
first days to provisioning Paris, and making all ready to meet 
a regular siege. Indeed, the work of collecting vast sup- 
plies in the capital was begun early in August ; but neither 
then nor at a much later day was it believed possible to ac- 
cumulate stores which should support a population of almost 
two millions for more than a very few weeks. The result 
placed the resources of Paris, and the energy of the com- 
manders who prepared its defense, among the chief wonders 
of this wonderful war. On September 19 the Germans first 
approached the capital on the south side. The resistance 
which the fifth army corps and the second corps of Bavarians 
met outside of the city was speedily overcome, and while in 
pursuit of the enemy toward the walls, the advancing Ger- 
mans first caught sight, from the heights on the south, of the 
vast capital, the domes and spires, the arches of triumph and 
the splendid buildings, extending far away to Montmartre. 

§ 3. The war now resolved itself into a number of sieges. 
Three great fortresses occupied as many German armies. The 
first of these was Strasburg, which attracted the attention 
of the world, both from its geographical and military impor- 
tance, and from its prominent place in history. An ancient 
cathedral city of the Germans, it had been treacherously 
seized by Louis XIV. nearly two centuries ago, and its occu- 
pancy by France had ever since been regarded by German 
patriots as a permanent menace. Every step made toward 
the reunion of the German nation had been esteemed by them 
as a step toward the recovery of Alsace, and the siege of 
Strasburg was treated by their poets and orators as the sym- 



Chap. XXXV. STRASBURG AND METZ. '729 

bol of the whole war — its successful issue as the fulfillment 
of the national destiny. The successive French governments 
had long treated the German population of Strasburg and 
Alsace with marked and growing favor ; and had won the 
zealous and loyal attachment of many thousands of them. 
Even Napoleon III. could find reason to boast of them as faith- 
ful subjects and citizens of France. But the corruption and 
inefficiency of his administration were in nothing more con- 
spicuous than in the inadequacy of the provision made for 
defending this bulwark of the country. Immediately after 
the battle of Worth the Germans detached a strong division 
of Baden troops from the third army to observe Strasburg, 
and to prepare for the siege ; other troops were added rap- 
idly, and on August 13 General Werder began the attack. 
General Uhrich, himself of a German family of Lorraine, and 
a veteran of the Crimean War, was in command of the city ; 
but, with fortifications of vast strength and es^ent, and with 
military stores sufficient for a great army, he had a force of 
less than 18,000 men, one third of them scattered fugitives 
from MacMahon's beaten army ; and neither they nor the 
works they occupied were in a condition for defense. The 
bombardment of the fortifications began August 24, and was 
continued without intermission until September 27, when, a 
large part of the city being destroyed, the garrison exhaust- 
ed, and the Germans just ready to storm the works, through 
breaches effected by their guns. General Uhrich hoisted the 
white flag on the cathedral tower. On the 28th the capitula- 
tion was signed, and the Germans took possession of the city, 
singing the national war-song, " The Watch on the Rhine." 

§ 4. Metz, the second of the great fortresses, remained qui- 
et for a long time after the unfortunate attempt at Noisse- 
ville. General Steinmetz was made governor of Posen, and 
Prince Frederick Charles took the chief command of the be- 
sieging forces. The quarters of the army were unhealthy ; 
and the work, especially at the advanced posts, was extreme- 
ly severe. The difficulties and dangers seemed far greater 
than those before which Charles V. retired in 1552, leaving 
Metz its glory as impregnable. Sickness spread alarmingly 
among the besiegers ; and Bazaine made a new sally, Octo- 
ber 7, toward the northeast, where Rummer's division stood, 



730 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

supported by the tenth and third army corps. This was only 
repulsed after a bloody contest. Bazaine also made repeat- 
ed attempts to treat with the Germans for peace, on condi- 
tion of the restoration of the empire. While he retained any 
hope of leading out of the fortress the only remaining army 
of imperial France, he withheld a formal recognition of the 
new government, and regarded himself as responsible only 
to the monarch who gave him his army and his rank. At 
length the powers of resistance of the mighty fortress were 
exhausted. Its supplies failed. Flour and meat, and even 
wholesome water for drinking, could not be obtained ; and 
on October 27, one month after the fall of Strasburg, Metz 
capitulated, with 173,000 men, including Marshals Bazaine, 
Le Bceuf, and Canrobert, and 6000 officers, and with all the 
stores and armament of the fortress. The crown-prince and 
Prince Frederick Charles were made marshals by the king. 
Bazaine was openly denounced by Gambetta as a tiaitor, and 
the prefects ordered to arrest him wherever found, and to 
deliver him at Tours. 

§ 5. But Paris was still the most important and formida- 
ble point to be attacked. Southeast of Paris the Seine and 
Marne come together, in the midst of the broad plain on 
which the city stands. The Seine flows in a winding course 
through the southern part of the plain, entering the city on 
the southeast side, describing nearly a semicircle through it, 
and leaving it at the southwest corner of the walls, near 
Sevres ; then it turns northward, skirting the whole west side 
of the city, and reaching St. Denis on the north, beyond which 
it turns again to the southwest. The famous Bois de Bou- 
logne lies within the first curve of the river, between it and 
the western walls of the city ; and directly opposite, upon 
the west side of the Seine, rises the steep height of Mont Va- 
lerien, south of which is the Palace of St. Cloud, which the 
French burned, and far in the west is Versailles. The re- 
markably advantageous situation of Paris, and the recollec- 
tion that it was surrendered in 1814 and 1815 without oppo- 
sition, suggested to Thiers, Avhen minister of Louis Philippe, 
that the city ought to be fortified. The work was begun in 
1841. From Mont Valerien, which commanded the whole of 
the western suburbs, between the windings of the Seine, a 



Chap. XXXV. THE SIEGE OF PARIS. 731 

chain of strong forts was built around Paris. The south side 
was protected, beginning with the exit of the Seine at the 
southwest corner, by forts Issy, Vanvres, Montrouge, Bicetre, 
and Ivry, Between the Seine and the Marne is fort Charen- 
ton. Next, on the east side of the city, from south to north, 
are forts Nojent, Rosny, Noisy, and Romainville. North- 
east of the city is fort Aubervilliers, and north of it the very 
strong fortress of St. Denis. The German army was placed 
in front of these fortifications : the fifth army corps at Ver- 
sailles, and east of it the second Bavarian corps ; then the 
sixth corps, between the Seine and the Marne. East of this 
was the Wirtemberg division, and then the twelfth corps. 
On the northeast was the corps of Guards ; on the north- 
west the fourth corps, connecting with the fifth. The king's 
head-quarters were fixed at Versailles, in Louis XVI. 's palace, 
where the galleries were covered with j^aintings of the victo- 
ries of the French. The crown-prince made his home in the 
villa of Les Ombrages. The severe winter soon made the 
siege very laborious and difiicult. 

§ 6. The siege and the defense of this great city were the 
most stupendous undertakings in modern warfare. At the 
first approach of the Germans, the panic produced among the 
French by the storming of the heights of Meudon, before 
fort Issy, suggested that it might be possible to storm the 
forts south of the city, and thence, by a bombardment, to re- 
duce Paris at once. But careful consideration soon showed 
the folly of such an attempt. In Paris were about 400,000 
men under arms, many of them veterans of the line and ma- 
rines, and many more trained militia (mobiles). The besieg- 
ers had but 120,000 infantry and 24,000 cavalry, and had 
lines of fifty miles to hold with these around the city. They 
were gradually reinforced, but never numbered more than 
200,000 men, and at no time were they strong enough for an 
assault. Nothing but a regular siege was possible; and this 
was a most formidable operation. Lines of circumvallation, 
more than fifty miles in length, must first be formed. Most 
of the supplies of the besieging army must be transported 
from Germany ; but one line of railway was open for this 
purpose, and that, too, was interrupted until the fall of Toul ; 
while it stopped at Auteuil, where the French had blown up 



732 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

a tunnel, forty miles from the German lines. The eastern 
part of France now swarmed with bands of volunteer "free- 
shooters," inspired with republican enthusiasm, who con- 
stantly strove to destroy the roads behind the German ar- 
mies. The French still had command of all the railways to 
the south, west, and north, and of the sea, and could move 
troops at pleasure, and import materials and supplies. The 
besieged city was very quiet, except that occasional sallies 
were made to exercise the raw troops. On October 28 a 
more serious attempt was made upon the village of Le Bour-' 
get, which was occupied by the Guards ; but the French were 
driven back, and so utterly routed that there was a panic 
in Paris, and no more sallies were made for a long time. 

§ 7. But the besiegers were soon attacked in the rear. 
Gambetta escaped froin Paris in a balloon,October 5, and as- 
sumed the duties of minister of war in the branch govern- 
ment at Tours. He summoned thither the ardent republic- 
ans Castelar and Garibaldi from Spain and Italy, and strove 
through them to secure aid from the democrats of the neigh- 
boring nations. But Castelar soon returned to Spain, with- 
out attempting to bring his Spanish friends to Gambetta's 
standard ; and Garibaldi, though he took a command in the 
French army, could not bring a large number of Italians to 
serve in it, his own associates blaming him for not making the 
restoration of Savoy and Nice to Italy the price of his alli- 
ance. But Gambetta was more successful in arousing the 
French to effort. By prodigious activity and energy he suc- 
ceeded in raising an army upon the Loire in a singularly 
short time. General Von der Tann was sent forward with 
the first Bavarian corps, and some detachments of infantry 
and cavalry, to clear the way to Orleans, by Etampes. He 
met a large body of the enemy north of Orleans, and in the 
battle of Artenay, October 10 and 11, scattered them, and 
then took possession of Orleans. But the enemy were still 
gathering in force, and he could not advance further to the 
south. He was therefore ordered to hold Orleans, while the 
twenty-second division of infantry left him, and marched back 
toward Paris. This division on the 18th took Chateaudun, 
after an obstinate resistance, and then occupied Chartres, 
making that city a German depot of supplies. The country 



Chap. XXXV. EFFOETS TO RELIEVE THE CAPITAL. 73.3 

was now quietly occupied by the Germans as far west as the 
Eure, southward to the Loire, and northward to Beauvais, 
Compiegne, and Soissons. 

§ 8. At this time, after the fall of Strasburg, the fourteenth 
army corps was formed in the east, under General Werder, 
out of the Baden division and several regiments of the North 
German line ; and part of it undertook, first, the siege of 
Schlettstadt, and after its capture, October 24, that of Neu- 
breisach, which fell November 10; while the remainder was 
directed to march down the Seine to Paris. But Garibaldi, 
who was at work in the southeast, now began to attract no- 
tice, with the numerous bands of partisans which he collect- 
ed there, and French forces, under Cambriels, were levied in 
the same region, which gave Werder work enough for all 
his forces. He was compelled to abandon the siege of the 
strong fortress of Belfort, which commands the southwestern 
passes into Alsace ; and he advanced with all the troops at 
his disposal southward toward Dijon, At Pasque he defeat- 
ed Garibaldi's troops, November 26 and 27, and drove him 
back to Autun. 

§ 9. After the fall of Metz, renewed efforts were made to 
find a basis for negotiations. The Germans, however, would 
not abate one jot of their demands. Convinced that this was 
the time to restore the integrity of ancient Germany by re- 
covering Alsace and Lorraine, they would listen to no prop- 
ositions which did not include the cession of these provinces. 
Many of the moderate French statesmen, such as Thiers and 
Jules Favre, might have acquiesced in these terms, now that 
even the mob could entertain no hope of doing better ; but 
Gambetta was still clamorous for war, and in proclamations 
and speeches fiercely denounced as traitors alike the gener- 
als who had been defeated and the statesmen who would 
consent to dismember France. He still talked wildly of re- 
lieving Paris, fed the ignorant people with false news of vic- 
tory, and could not yet be safely defied by more sober men, 
in the face of multitudes who still gave ear to him. Imme- 
diately after the surrender of Metz, according to orders given 
in anticipation of that event. General Manteuffel, with the 
first army, consisting of 38,000 infantry and 4400 cavalry, 
with 180 field-pieces, undertook to protect the forces besieg- 



734 HlfeTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

iiig Paris on the north. The second army, under Prince Fred- 
erick Charles, was advanced to the Loire, to cover the south 
side of the besiegers. The second corps was sent to Paris ; 
and the ninth was left to escort the prisoners of Metz to Ger- 
many, and to besiege Verdun and Thionville. The troops 
which had surrounded Metz were now sorely needed to as- 
sist the German forces elsewhere ; for the French were show- 
ing new vigor throughout the land. Vast masses of men, 
taken from their peaceful industries, and armed with weap- 
ons imported from America and England, assembled around 
the nucleus formed of the remains of the regular troops, 
with the well-drilled marines and gens d'armes. All France 
sprang to arms in one final efibrt to save its capital. 

§ 10. General Bourbaki now crossed the Lower Seine in 
the north, co-operating with a western army which appeared 
near Chartres. South of this stood the Army of the Loire, 
under Aurelles de Paladines ; while Garibaldi continued his 
efforts in the east. The strength of these armies was not ex- 
actly known by the Germans ; nor could they foresee where 
the first attack would be made. But the western side of the 
besieging army seemed to be the most exposed to danger, 
since German reinforcements were known to be approaching 
from the east. General Von der Tann was instructed to hold 
Orleans as long as possible, until the enemy's i^lans should 
be disclosed. The attempt on this side came speedily. On 
November 8 Von der Tann. was attacked at Orleans by an 
overwhelming force from the northwest. He evacuated the 
city, and retreated, fighting all the way against vastly superior 
numbers, to a strong position at Coulmiers (November 9), on 
the way from Orleans to Etampes. Here he was speedily re- 
inforced by several divisions of infantry and cavalry, which 
were formed into a new army corps, under the command of 
Frederick Francis, Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and 
undertook to keep off the enemy on the south and west. At 
Dreux, on November 17, and at Chateauneuf, on the 18th, 
the French, after this threatening approach to Paris, were 
driven back ; and it became evident that the decisive con- 
flict was not to be fought here, but against the Army of the 
Loire. But this army, consisting .of four corps of the French, 
could not safely be met by the small numbers under the 



Chap. XXXV. CAPTURE OF ORLEANS. 735 

grand-duke alone. Prince Frederick Charles therefore ad- 
vanced against it with the second army, of which the ninth 
corps was already on the road to Orleans, and assumed the 
general command, including the grand-duke's forces. 

§ 11. The army of Prince Frederick Charles was in all 60,000 
strong. The French, commanded by one of the ablest of the 
republican generals, numbered 150,000. But General Au- 
relles de Paladine's troops were as yet but imperfectly dis- 
ciplined ; and he remained on the defensive at Orleans, where 
his position was strengthened by the forest of Orleans on the 
north, and by the marshes of the Beauce in front, which the 
wet winter weather made almost impassable. But the bold 
resolution to make an attack on him was taken by Prince 
Frederick Charles. He advanced against Orleans, concen- 
trating his troops before the city, M'ith the forces of the 
grand-duke, 45,000 strong, on his right wing. The new corps 
of the enemy, the twentieth, then suddenly appeared in the 
southeast, upon his extreme left, opposite to the tenth corps, 
evidently with the purpose of moving northward, and then 
down theLoing to Paris, General Voigts-Rheetz, on Novem- 
ber 28, met this force at Beaune la Rolande, and repulsed it, 
after a severe fight of eight hours' duration. This was the 
beginning of the battles of Orleans. On December 1 the 
whole of the second array advanced to the attack. On the 
2d the grand -duke drove back the French at Loigny, Ba- 
zoches les Hautes, and Baigneux, west of the Orleans road. 
On the 3d the second army took the villages north of Orleans 
— Pithiviers, Chilleurs, and Neuville — while the Bavai'ians 
and the grand-duke's troops seized on Chevilliers and Pour- 
pry. On the evening of December 4 the Germans pressed 
forward to the suburbs of the city, and to the railway sta- 
tion. During the night Orleans capitulated, and the French 
were permitted to withdraw, on condition of leaving the 
bridges across the Loire unharmed. On the 5th the cavalry 
of the ninth corps crossed the river, and pursued the retreat- 
ing French, whose fifteenth and sixteenth corps were in utter 
confusion, as far as Gien, Vierzon, and Tours. 

§ 12. Meanwhile the first army, under Manteufiel, was en- 
gaged with the rapidly formed French Army of the North. 
ManteufFol marched from Metz northwestward, first to Com- 



736 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

pi^gne, and was then ordered by the king to Rouen and 
Amiens, where he expected to find 18,000 French, but actual- 
ly found a well-appointed army of 30,000, On November 27 
Amiens was taken, but after a valiant resistance, which cost 
the Germans, and especially the first corps, heavy losses. The 
French retreated to Arras, and Rouen was occupied by Man- 
teuffel, December 5, almost without resistance. Manteuflel 
ranged his troops in lines extending from the channel south- 
ward, through Rouen and across the Seine, protecting the 
besiegers of Paris on the north and west. Thus all the three 
armies of the French, forming for the relief of Paris, were 
driven back — at Dijon, at Orleans, and at Amiens. 

§ 13. Thiers, meanwhile, on the pretext of asking for the 
recognition of the provisional government, made a diplomatic 
tour to Vienna, St. Petersburg, and London, seeking aid for 
France. Perhaps Austria was the only power from which 
such aid was seriously hoped for ; but France, as a republic, 
was far from having the same claims on the house of Haps- 
burg which might plausibly have been presented by the em- 
pire. Besides, the interference of Austria was prevented, at 
once by the friendship of Russia to Germany, and by the 
deep sympathy shown among the German subjects of Aus- 
tria itself for their fellow Germans in the war for German 
unity. Thiers, therefore, could accomplish nothing. After 
his return Paris seemed dispirited, and was quiet. This state 
of affairs afforded the societies of working-men in the city 
an opportunity for a revolt, and for the establishment of the 
Commune, which was declared October 31, and seemed by its 
success for one day to promise a renewal of the scenes of 
terror of the first revolution ; but it was firmly suppressed. 
Toward the end of November the city began to be hopeful 
of relief Intelligence was exchanged with the provinces by 
every device of the modern arts — by balloons, by the tele- 
graph, by letters photographed in microscopic size, and car- 
ried by pigeons — so that the efforts from without to relieve 
the city were well known within. A bold attempt to break 
forth was made at the end of November, in concert with the 
movements of the external armies. Feints were made on all 
sides ; but the strength of the effort was put forth on the 
southeastern side, where the Army of the Loire was to ap- 

• 



Chap. XXXV. BATTLE OF BEAUGENCY. 737 

proach ; but Prince Frederick Charles repulsed it at Beaune 
la Rolande. In each of these sallies the troops were concen- 
trated under a heavy cannonading from all the forts, which 
save notice to the Germans of the cominsf attack. On this 
occasion General Ducrot led out his forces, November 30, to- 
ward Villiers, on the Marne, then occupied by the Wirtem- 
berg troops, who were soon reinforced by the twelfth and 
second corps. It was only after a fierce and bloody strug- 
gle, in which the Wirtemberg forces, as well as the French, 
lost heavily, that the attempt to break forth was abandoned 
(December 4), and by this time the defeat of the Army of 
the Loire was probably known in Paris. 

§ 14. A period of comparative inactivity now followed. 
The second army, however, advanced from Orleans in search 
of the enemy, who retreated westward to Tours, south to 
Vierzon and Bourges, and southeast to Gien, and were fol- 
lowed up until they were entirely scattered, and a wide dis- 
trict around Orleans was free of them. South and east of the 
city no enemy was found ; but the army corps of the Grand- 
Duke of Mecklenburg, marching down the Loire to Tours, 
came upon a superior force of the French, composed of the 
sixteenth and seventeenth corps, which had been defeated at 
Orleans, and the nineteenth and twenty-first from the Army 
of the West, under General Chanzy. A battle of four days' 
duration was fought at Beaugency, December 8th to 11th; 
where the first Bavarian corps, and the seventeenth and twen- 
ty-second divisions, at first had to bear the brunt of the fight ; 
but the tenth corps afterward came to their support. The ninth 
corps, meanwhile, pressed forward on the south bank of the 
Loire, by Charabord to Blois ; and Chanzy, whom Gambetta 
bad placed in command instead of Aurelles de Paladine, re- 
treated in confusion to Vendome and Le Mans. Prince P^ed- 
erick Charles, expecting the enemy to make a stand behind 
the Loire, drew together in Orleans and west of that city the 
troops which had been sent to the south and southeast ; but 
the French did not pause in their retreat. It soon became 
evident that the former Army of the Loire had been divided ; 
part of it, with the Army of the West, under Chanzy, was 
rallied at Le Mans, while the remaining three corps, under 
Bourbaki, formed a new army, the destination of which was 

B B B 



V38 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

not obvious. The plan of the Germans was not to occupy as 
many cities and provinces as possible, thus dividing their 
forces, but to keep thfe besieging army at Paris protected 
and supplied, and to prevent the possibility of approach to 
relieve the city from without. The king therefore sent or- 
ders that the first army should concentrate at Beauvais, and 
should hold besides only Rouen, Amiens, and St. Quentin ; 
and that the second army should remain at Orleans, holding 
also Gieu and Blois ; while the grand-duke's forces should oc- 
cupy Chartres. The seventh corps, that of General Zastrow, 
which had moved toward the upper waters of the Seine and 
Yonne, was to join the seventeenth, Werder's corps. 

§ 15. At the beginning of December, Werder was still at 
Dijon, which he had occupied at his first advance from Al- 
sace. His object was to take Belfort, and especially to ob- 
serve the forces which the enemy were gathering in the 
southeast of France, with Lyons as their centre. On their 
first attempt to advance, he marched to meet them, and de- 
feated General Cremer at Nuits, December 18. Hearing that 
Garibaldi had 20,000 men at Autun, a force about equal to 
Cremer's, and that Bourbaki's entire army was about to 
march eastward, General Werder resolved to retire from his 
advanced position at Dijon, and station himself at Vesoul, at 
the southern extremity of the Vosges range, whence he could 
more easily move to any required point. But the rumor con- 
cerning Bourbaki was premature. His forces were still at 
Bourges and Nevers, undergoing a reorganization. 

§ 16. The activity of the French was renewed toward the 
end of the year, and the forces raised by Gambetta gave 
fresh indications of their existence. The Array of the North, 
under Faidherbe, advanced against Amiens in the middle of 
December. General Manteuifel's first army was but weak 
for its work, Avhich included the occupation ofEouen and the 
defense of the line of the Lower Seine and of Amiens. He 
therefore concentrated all the forces which could be moved, 
with some reinforcements from the line before Paris. The for- 
tresses on the Belgian frontier, Thionville, Montmedy, and Me- 
zieres, now fell, one after another ; and the occupation of Ami- 
ens by the Germans was more important than ever, since it 
secured to them the newly opened railway through the north 



Chap. XXXV. BOMBARDMENT OF PARIS. 739 

of France, by Mezieres, Rheims, and Soissons. But while 
Manteuifel collected his troops, a force of 50,000 French ap- 
peared north of Amiens, behind the Hallue, a small tributary 
of the Somme, intrenched in a series of villages. ManteufFel 
attacked them with GOben's corps, the eighth, and after a 
bloody fight, December 23, drove them fi-om these villages. 
The French then occupied the steep sides of the valley, and 
even made a counter-attack on the villages on the same eve- 
ning, which was repulsed. On the 24th the Germans were 
ready for another attack, but it was not made. In the eve- 
ning a movement began among the French which was not 
understood ; but on Christmas morning it appeared that they 
had retreated to Arras again. Goben at once followed in 
pursuit as far as Bapaume, and laid siege to Peronne. 

§ 1 7. This advance of the Army of the North was again 
simultaneous with a sally of the besieged from the capital. 
The attemj^t was now made on the northeast. The village 
of Le Bourget, occupied by the Guards, was again attacked, 
December 21, as were also the Saxons, at the Marne. Both 
attacks failed utterly, the Germans being well prepared. The 
besiegers now began their artillery fire on the fortifications 
on the east side, which was suddenly opened, December 27, 
upon Mount Avron and the neighboring forts of Noisy, 
Rosny, and Nogent, with seventy-six siege guns. The firing 
upon Mount Avron was so unexpected and so destructive, 
both to the fort and to the troops encamped behind it, that 
these gradually broke away, and finally fled in wild con- 
fusion, and the Saxons, advancing, found the camp deserted 
and strewn with corpses (December 29). This artillery at- 
tack was but the promise of that which was preparing on 
a far larger scale. Notwithstanding the great difticulties 
which had been experienced in forwarding even the ordinary 
supplies of the army, yet, by the help of the second line of 
railway opened in December, the Germans now had the ma- 
terials at hand for a bombardment of Paris. On the south- 
west of the city, from the terrace of St. Cloud along the 
front of forts Issy, Vanvres, and Montrouge, by the villages 
of Meudon, Clamart, and Moulin de la Tour, German batteries 
had been placed on the heights, containing 275 heavy guns, 
each supplied with 500 rounds of ammunition. Lieutenant- 



740 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

General Kamecke was charged with the Avork of the bom- 
bardment, and now it was nearly ready to begin. 

§ 18. The whole vast tragedy of the war turned upon the 
fate of Paris. It had been supposed, even by Trochu, the 
governor of the city, that its stores of provisions would suf- 
fice at most for only sixty days. But it had held out already 
for three months ; the army of defense had been raised to 
450,000 men, and although the rations were now limited, 
there was no thought of surrender. The Germans knew that 
the fall of Paris would leave France without a head, and 
would result in peace. The French, too, were well aware 
that they could not carry on the war after the fall of the 
capital. Gambetta and his associates called on the French 
people to make war to the knife, in one supreme eflbrt, and 
constantly strove to excite them by unfounded hopes and 
false reports of victory. If throngs of men were armies, the 
Germans must really have been driven from France; and if 
Gambetta's bulletins had been true, "the Prussians" could 
not have escaped annihilation. Faidherbe reorganized his 
army at Arras, and brought its strength up to nearly 60,000, 
besides detachments which were seen along the Lower Seine. 
Chanzy built up the armies of the West and the Loire in the 
camp of Conlie, near Le Mans, until he had 150,000 men. 
Bourbaki collected thi'ee army corps at Bourges, and farther 
east Garibaldi and Cremer had each a force estimated at 
from 10,000 to 20,000. Including the bands of " free-shoot- 
ers" that roamed in Eastern France, the boast that a million 
of Frenchmen were in arms may not have been far from the 
truth. 

§ 19. The plans of the French leaders were still unknown 
at the royal head-quarters at Versailles when the year ended. 
The most serious danger seemed to be that Chanzy and Bour- 
baki might co-operate in an advance on Paris. No one could 
anticipate that Gambetta would send Bourbaki eastward. 
The safest policy for the Germans seemed to be, as hitherto, 
not to await the enemy's attack, but to anticipate it by ad- 
vancing against him. On January 1, 1871, Prince Frederick 
Charles received by telegraph the king's order to assume the 
offensive against the troops of Chanzy on their march from 
the west. He advanced from his position at Vendome with 



Chap. XXXV. BATTLE OF LE MANS. 741 

the second army : with the tenth corps on his left or soutliern 
wing, the third and ninth corps in the centre, on the main 
road through St. Calais to Le Mans, and the thirteenth corps, 
under the Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg, on his right, along 
the river Huisne. On January 6, in the midst of a difficult 
country, full of ditches and hedges, the advancing troops met 
the enemy, who were also on the march forward, and drove 
them, constantly fighting, from village to village, and from 
valley to valley, for several days, until they reached Le Mans. 
The cold weather ended, and a thaw came on, with rain, 
which made the marching extremely difficult. Then the 
cold returned, and the frozen, slippery roads were almost im- 
passable for cavalry and artillery. But in spite of these ob- 
stacles, and of an enemy nearly twice as numerous as them- 
selves, the Germans, about 70,000 in number, advanced against 
Le Mans. Here, and in the neighboring villages, January 11 
and 12, the decisive battle was fought. The French lines on 
both sides were outflanked by the Germans, so that their ^e- 
I'eat became a confused rout. During the seven days of fight- 
ing, 18,000 prisoners wei'e taken, vAth 20 guns. The French 
fled westward to Laval, or northwestward to Alenyon, and 
the pursuing Germans captured without a struggle the forti- 
fied camp of Conlie. In this retreat the French lost half 
their number by cold and hunger; no adequate provision 
had been made for the sick or wounded, and the misery they 
suffered was beyond description. The thirteenth corps march- 
ed to Rouen, where it relieved the first Prussian corps, and 
to Tours, which -was now occupied. The French Army of 
the West was ruined ; the Germans were in Brittany and 
Normandy, and no relief from this quarter could be hoped 
for at Paris. 

§ 20. At the same time the fate of the French Army of the 
East was decided. LTnder Bourbaki's direction, this body of 
men had also been increased to more than 150,000, and Gam- 
betta, the dictator, ordered it to relieve Belfort, to defeat 
Werder's corps, to free Alsace and Lorraine from the Ger- 
mans, to cut off" the communications between the Germans 
at Paris and their own country, and to cross the Rhine and 
invade South Germany. This was the plan by which a 
young and able advocate undertook to meet Von Moltke's 



742 HISTOKY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

military science and the iron discipline of the Germans. 
Werder had already concentrated his troops at Vesoul, while 
General Zastrow, with the seventh corps, in a long line, con- 
nected him with the foreposts of the second army, now ad- 
vanced to the southwest. The first Bavarian corps was call- 
ed to the intrenchments before Paris, where it would find 
some repose after its exhausting labors, and it relieved the 
second corps, which marched to the support of Zastrow. 
General Manteufi"el was made commander of the whole body, 
consisting of the fourteenth (Werder's), seventh, and second 
corps, and was summoned to Versailles for a conference, 
while his army began its march against Bourbaki. The 
French were found, January 6, in front of Werder on the 
south. Werder wished to reach a strong position at Mont- 
beliard, and it was of the first importance to anticipate the 
enemy in this movement. The French troops, though vastly 
superior in numbers, were poorly clad and poorly fed. Their 
train was so inadequate that they were compelled to keep 
near the railway for the sake of supplies. The Germans 
also hoped to check and confuse them by skirmishing at- 
tacks. At Villersexel, January 9, an attack was made which 
had this efiect, though the Germans were soon compelled to 
retreat before overwhelming numbers. 

§ 21. Thus General Werder reached the lines behind the 
Lisaine, which he soon made famous. The Lisaine is a brook 
which runs southward by Montbeliard, and joins the Doubs 
just at the most southerly point of its curve, a little below 
the mouth of the Alaine, another brook which comes from 
the east. The two brooks form almost a right angle, with 
Montbeliard and its commanding citadel in the vertex. But 
the enemy were on the west, so that the valley of the Li- 
saine was the important line ; and Werder intrenched himself 
strongly along its steep eastern side, among the villages that 
stretch from Frahier and Hericourt to Montbeliard. On his 
rear lay the fortress of Belfort, which it was necessary to ob- 
serve, and surround with a strong force ; though Werder 
withdrew part of the siege artillery, and all the troops that 
could be spared from the investing lines. Skirmishes at the 
advanced posts betrayed the approach of the French, and on 
January 14 they began their attack on the lines of the Lisaini'. 



Chap. XXXV. THE LINES OF THE LISAINE. 743 

The weather became extremely cold, so that the brooks were 
frozen over, and much of the peculiar strength of the position 
was destroyed. The cold also made the toil of battle harder 
for both sides. But the men of Baden and the North German 
detachments with them knew, as their commander did, how 
much depended on holding their lines, and were informed, 
too, that the seventh and second corps were already hasten- 
ing by forced marches to strike Bourbaki in tlie rear, and to 
relieve them. They valiantly repelled successive assaults, on 
December 15, 16, and 17. Wlienever a village was lost, or 
the French seemed to establish themselves on the left bank 
of the brook, a charge was made, and they were driven back. 
On the 17th the French began to show signs of exhaustion, 
and they gradually assumed a merely defensive attitude. 
Bourbaki had received tidings of Mauteuflel's advance, and 
was alarmed for his rear. On December 18 the Fi-ench dis- 
appeared from Werder's front, and he at once pursued them. 
With 150,000 men they had fought to no purpose against 
Werder's 43,000 ; nor had any attempt been made by the 
exhausted garrison of Bel fort to assist them. The fate of 
the French Army of the South, also, was already decided, 
though the most terrible part of its ruin was yet to come. 

§ 22. The Army of the North, though the smallest of the 
French armies, was more resolutely led than the others, but 
did not escape defeat. The sixteenth German division un- 
dertook the siege of the little fortress of Peronne, which 
commanded the position behind the Somme. To relieve this 
point, the French again advanced, January 2, from Arras 
and Douai, and on the 3d met Lieutenant-General Kummer 
with two divisions at Bapaume. The most obstinate resist- 
ance was made until night; but during the night it was de- 
termined that the Prussians must retreat toward Peronne be- 
fore Faidherbe's superior numbers. But on the morning of 
the 4th it was found that the French themselves had retreat- 
ed to Arras. It was believed, however, that they would soon 
make another attempt, and the northern German army was 
reinforced as rapidly as possible, both by detachments from 
the lines around Paris and by recalling the troops of the 
first corps from Rouen, where the thirteenth corps, that of 
the Duke of Mecklenburg, arrived after the victory at Le 



744 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

Mans, Meanwhile ManteufFel was sent to the southern army, 
and Goben took his place in the north. On January 9, Pe- 
ronne capitulated, so that the division which had been em- 
ployed in the siege was released. Thus a movement of 
Faidherbe to relieve Paris could hardly be feared. The di- 
rect roads, through Amiens and Peronne, were closed to him, 
and only that by St. Quentin seemed to be open, while a 
march in that direction would expose his flank to attack by 
the first army. Yet Faidherbe made an attempt, with his 
twenty -second and twenty -third corps, to take this route. 
Goben attacked him with his troops at St. Quentin, January 
19, on his flank, and after seven hours of fierce combat drove 
his army in utter confusion toward the northeast, taking 
about 10,000 prisoners. The Germans in pursuit reached 
Chateau Cambresis and Le Quesnoi, and only halted before 
the fortresses of the Belgian frontier — Arras, Carabrai, and 
Valenciennes. The French Army of the North was no longer 
to be feared. 

§ 23. Meanwhile the bombardment of Paris had begun. On 
January 5 the German batteries opened fire on forts Issy,Van- 
vres, and Montrouge,and soon reduced Issy to silence, and crip- 
pled the others. Every day from two hundred to three hun-' 
dred shells were thrown into the city, mainly into the part 
south of the Seine, with the object, not of destroying it, but of 
disturbing and terrifying the people. Paris was now approach- 
ing famine, and the resistance to the besiegers grew obvious- 
ly weaker. The German batteries on the north side were 
pressed nearer to the city. A bombardment of St. Denis and 
of the northern suburbs was begun on January 21, from Le 
Bourget, Stains, and Pierrefitte. There were already voices 
in the city to plead for a capitulation. But public opinion, 
which was in this case the clamor of demagogues, controlling 
the press, and even the government itself, demanded a united 
effort to break through the German lines. Success was a 
military impossibility; but Trochu was compelled to yield. 
The army drew up in line on January 19, under the guns 
of Mount Valerien, the only fortress which now oflTered the 
requisite protection, though the French generals knew well 
that they here must fall upon the best -fortified part of 
the German lines — that held by the fifth corps. Yet they 



Chap. XXXV. CAPITULATION OF PARIS. 745 

pressed forward, only to meet death at Montretout, on the 
heights of Garches, and at the park of St. Cloud. They in- 
deed captured Montretout and Buzanval, but voluntarily 
evacuated them during the night, and returned to Mount 
Valerien, leaving 1500 dead and as many more wounded be- 
hind them. In these strong positions 20,000 German troops 
of a single army-corps repulsed 100,000 men, fighting des- 
perately as for life, and suffered a total loss of but VOO. But 
li.id the French broken through the first line, it would have 
been only to come upon stronger ones, and they must have 
become prisoners of war. This sally was like the last desper- 
ate effort of an exhausted wrestler. Paris had now no pros- 
pect but surrender. Fortunately, the prudent policy was 
adopted of obtaining an armistice before the last stores of 
food were exhausted. But for this, thousands must have 
starved to death, since the German armies had barely suffi- 
cient provisions for themselves. On January 23 Jules F'avre 
went to Versailles, and on the 26th the negotiations had ad- 
vanced so far that hostilities were suspended. On January 
28 an armistice for twenty- one days was signed, during 
which a National Assembly was to meet to decide whether a 
peace should be made on the terms offered by the Germans. 
The principal conditions of the armistice were that the forts 
around Paris should be surrendered to the Germans; the 
French army in the city should be made prisoners of war 
and disarmed, except 12,000 men retained to preserve order 
in Paris; the city should day a contribution of 200,000,000 
francs to the Germans. The armistice extended to all the 
departments except those of the Doubs, the Jura, and the 
Cote d'Or. The French asked for this exception, in the be- 
lief that Bourbaki's army was strong enough yet to gain a 
victory, which might benefit them in the final terms of peace. 
The Germans unhesitatingly granted the request, knowing 
that but a few days more of hostilities would complete the 
ruin of this army also. 

§ 24. It was therefore in the departments excepted from 
the truce that the last act of the great tragedy was finished. 
When Bourbaki fled from Werder's lines, the second and 
seventh corps, under Manteuffel, pursued him rapidly, march- 
ing wnth an extended front across the country through which 



'Jr46 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

his retreat must be made to Lyons. Manteuffel boldly gave 
up the opportunity to join Werder, in order to anticipate 
Bourbaki's army in its retreat southward, and to cut off the 
railroads, by which alone that army could be rescued. He 
would thus shut in the French between the Germans and 
the Swiss frontier, as MacMahon had been driven against the 
Belgian frontier at Sedan. Garibaldi, with 25,000 men and 
the reserve, was at Dijon, but was held completely in check. 
Manteuffel's right, on the south, was formed by the second 
corps; the seventh held the centre, gradually extending to 
the left, and connecting with Werder's fouiteenth corps, 
which also was in pursuit of Bourbaki, Thus the whole Ger- 
man army pressed onward relentlessly. Bourbaki had no 
way of escape to the south. Pressed onward to Pontarlier, 
close to the Swiss boundary, he was in despair for himself 
and his ai'my, and attempted to commit suicide. General 
Clinchant took his place, and strove, on January 29, to open 
negotiations with Manteuffel, by appealing to the general 
armistice ; but his advances were rejected, since this part of 
the country had been expressly excepted from that agree- 
ment. On February 1 the Germans attacked Pontarlier. 
Driven on all sides into the steep and icy passes of the Jura, 
the French army attempted, on February 1, to cross the 
mountains into Switzerland, where, in pursuance of a con- 
vention with the Swiss government, they would be disarmed 
and retained until a peace could be signed. There wei'e still 
from 80,000 to 100,000 men in the army; about 15,000 had 
been made prisoners by the Germans, and many thousands 
had been overcome by hunger, cold, and fatigue. It seemed 
that Gambetta's desperate enterprise was about to meet with 
a fate very similar to that of Napoleon's invasion of Russia 
in 1812. The French fugitives reached the hospitable homes 
of the Swiss in utter exhaustion, nearly naked and half- 
starved. Belfort, now nearly ready to surrender, was de- 
livered to the Germans on February 18, in pursuance of the 
further provision of the armistice. 

§ 25. The National Convention provided for in the armis- 
tice assembled at Bordeaux on February 12. The large 
majority of its members were in favor of peace, upon the 
terms offered by Prussia, and Thiers, whom the convention 



Chap. XXXV. THE PEACE OF FRANKFORT. 747 

called on the 16th to the head of the government, threw all 
his influence in that direction. On March 1 the Germans, 
30,000 strong, according to the terras of capitulation, entered 
the city of Paris, but did not pass beyond the space assigned 
them, between the Arch of Triumph and the Place de la Con- 
corde. On the next day, the National Convention at Bor- 
deaux accepted the preliminaries of peace as agreed to at 
Versailles February 26. France ceded to Germany Alsace, 
except Belfort, and that part of Lorraine in which German is 
spoken, with the fortress of Metz, and the strip of land on 
the left bank of the Moselle on which the battles of August 
16 and 18, 1870, were fought. France also agreed to pay to 
Germany, within three years, an indemnity of 5,000,000,000- 
francs. The country south and west of Paris Avas at once 
evacuated by the Germans ; but the forts north and east of 
the city were retained, and the northeastern departments of 
France were also held by German troops, supported by the 
French government, as a security for the payment of the in- 
demnity. 

§ 26. During this war of 210 days' duration, including 180 
days of actual warfare, three great French armies were taken 
prisoners and a fourth was driven into Switzerland ; 156 en- 
gagements, including 17 great battles, were fought; and 22 
fortresses reduced, three of \yhich — Paris, Metz, and Strasburg 
— are the strongest in the world. The number of prisoners 
of war taken by the Germans was 385,000, including 11,360 
oflicers. There were .also captured 7200 cannon, and more 
than 600,000 small arms. When the peace was signed, the 
Germans had more than 600,000 armed men in France, be- 
sides their civil officers and servants ; and 250,000 soldiers 
in Germany ready to follow at the word of command. The 
king returned to his own capital, where he was eagerly wel- 
comed, on March 17, and on the 10th of May the final treaty 
of peace was concluded at Frankfort-on-the-Main. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. 

§ 1 . The Sources of National Unity. § 2. Growth of German Patriotism. 
§ 3. The Kestoration of the Empire Demanded. § 4. Treaties of the 
Smaller States with Prussia. § 5. Opjjosition in Bavaria. The Empire 
Proclaimed. § 6. The First Imperial Diet. § 7. The Catholic Church in 
Prussia. § 8. Pius IX. and the Jesuit Party. § 9. The Syllabus. §10. 
General Council Summoned. §11. The Bishops and-Clergy in Germany. 

. § 1 2. The Council. Papal Infallibility Proclaimed. § 1 8. Reception of 
the Dogma in Germany. § 14. The Conflict between Church and State 
begins. § 15. The Clerical Party in the Diet. § 10. The "Old Catho- 
lics." § 17. The School Laws. § 18. The Pope Rejects Cardinal Hohen- 
lohe as Embassador. § 19. Expulsion of the Jesuits. § 20. The Falk 
Laws of May, 1873. § 21. Character of these Laws. § 22. Constitu- 
tion of the Empire. § 23. Progress of Liberalism in Prussia. § 24. Al- 
sace and Lorraine. The Attitude of France. § 25. Of the Other Euro- 
pean Powers. 

§ 1. During the seventy years which ended with the fall 
of Napoleon III., the German people experienced a complete 
revolution, not only in their political organization, but in 
their political life and consciousness. At the beginning of 
this century, Germany was but "a geographical expression ;" 
in 1871 it had become the foremost nation of Europe. The 
cause of this change is sometimes sought in the mysterious 
influence of race and kindred on the destiny of men ; and it 
is even asserted to be characteristic of our times that peoples 
descended from a common ancestry form " nationalities," 
which, by some irresistible force, are now hurried into polit- 
ical unity. This principle is pointed out as explaining the 
rapid movements by Mhich united Italy and united Germany 
have come into being, and as rendering certain the speedy 
dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and the ulti- 
mate combination of the Sclavonic tribes to subdue Europe. 
But history is read to little purpose if it does not show us 
that race exercises no mysterious influence upon political as- 
sociations. It is not a common descent that makes one or 
more tribes into a nation, but a community of language, of 



Chap. XXXVI. CAUSES OF GERMAN UNITY. 749 

religion, of culture and manners, of needs and dangers, to- 
gether with the opportunity aflbrded by geograpfiical posi- 
tion. All these influences, indeed, may sometimes have been 
the results of descent from a single tribe or family ; but they 
may be entirely independent of it, and are usually the conse- 
quences of a long and complicated series of events, in which 
the power of race is less the greater the advance in civiliza- 
tion. The new national organization of Germany is mainly 
the result of the wonderful development of the German lan- 
guage and literature which began near the middle of the 
eighteenth century, whose influence has been multiplied by 
the rapid increase of the means of intercourse among the peo- 
ple, and by the spread of education and intelligence. 

§ 2. The national consciousness of the modern Germans 
grew up first among the litei'ary classes, and especially among 
the radical writers and thinkers, and was long watched with 
jealousy by rulers and princes. It first attained recognition 
as a source of political and military strength during the wars 
against Napoleon I, ; and in 1813, when the Prussian gov- 
ernment was forced, as a last resort, to throw itself upon the 
patriotic impulses of the people, it manifested itself with such 
vigor that the leaders who had invoked it were alarmed. 
The desire for German unity was seen to be inseparably as- 
sociated with a desire for a national and popular govern- 
ment : the petty princes dreaded it, as threatening their over- 
throw ; Austria struggled steadily against it, as involving 
the disintegration of the empire; and even Prussia could not 
then see in it the opportunity for its own aggrandizement. 
All the political forces of Europe were arrayed against its 
growth, and succeeded in holding it at bay for another gen- 
eration. Meanwhile the literary and scientific activity of 
the German mind increased ; and with it the intellectual tics 
which bind together the whole body of people speaking the 
German language grew strong. -The revolutions of 1848 
showed that the old political institutions of the country were 
felt to be obstructions to the popular wish ; and that noth- 
ing but organization and opportunity were needed to consti- 
tute Germany a united nation. The reaction which followed 
was but superficial, and could not extinguish the once thor- 
oughly awakened sense of common interests and destiny. 



750 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VL 

From that time until now the political history of the Ger- 
mans has been a steady progress toward the fulfillment of 
the tendency to union, only half understood by the leaders, 
who thought they were controlling results, while they were 
themselves impelled by forces which could not be resisted. 
Before 1866, Prussia was wise enough to identify its own am- 
bition for leadership with the national cause ; and this asso- 
ciation gave its diplomacy a moral strength scarcely less use- 
ful than the preponderance of its armies ; so that, when the 
Bohemian war ended, the mass of intelligent citizens through- 
out Germany already regarded themselves as one people, 
and the precise form of their national organization as a ques- 
tion of detail, which might safely be left to time. The sud- 
den transformation of the small South German kingdoms 
from enemies of Prussia to armed allies of the North German 
Confederation was but the acknowledgment by their rulers 
of the change already wrought in the people, who had be- 
come, in mind and heart, citizens of Germany. 

§ 3. The national spirit grew rapidly during the interval 
of peace which followed ; and its growth was much stimu- 
lated by the evident eagerness of France to check it. When 
Napoleon III. declared war against Prussia, in July, ISYO, he 
doubtless relied on the hostility of the South German States 
to Prussia, and expected that his invading armies would 
find in these states and in the Rhine provinces some of the 
same support which his uncle had obtained from the Rhine 
League in 1809. But he met all Germany united on the fron- 
tier, and his power was crushed. By one universal impulse, 
the people of Germany then expressed their desire for a 
closer union. It is needless to ask where or by whom the 
cry was first uttered, that the fall of the French was the oc- 
casion for the reconstitution of the German Empire. The 
brotherhood in arms of the North and South Germans in the 
campaign ending at Sedan destroyed among the jjeople the 
old alienation and hostility which had enabled the petty gov- 
ernments to maintain themselves, and broke the political 
power of the " patriotic parties," which had so long striven 
to foster local pride and jealousy against national feeling. 
The event proved the wisdom of the saying of Frederick 
William IV., when the name of emperor was ofiered him by 



Chap. XXXVI. THE TREATIES OF VERSAILLES. V51 

the Frankfort delegation in 1848, that an imperial crown in 
Germany could only be won on the field of battle. Surprise 
was often expressed, even b'eyond the limits of France, that 
a war of invasion could be prosecuted by any people with 
such unanimous and patriotic fervor as the Germans exhib- 
ited ; but tlie source of it was that they looked upon a vic- 
tory here as the end of divisions among themselves, and they 
fought for their own national existence. From the begin- 
ning of the war, the King of Prussia commanded the troops 
of Germany as one national army, and the government of 
the confederation spoke for Germany as a nation. 

§ 4. In August, 1870, and before the victory of Sedan, the 
great cities of Bavaria joined in an address to their king, 
Lewis II., expressing the desire of their citizens for union 
with the North German Confederation, and similar addresses 
rapidly followed from towns, trades, and societies, and from 
the army, until they numbered nearly a thousand. Within 
a week after the surrender of Napoleon, the council of min- 
isters in Wirtemberg began a formal study of the constitu- 
tion of the confederation, with the acknowledged purpose of 
negotiating for a place in it. Baden and Hesse immediately 
yielded to the popular will, and began to treat with the au- 
thorities of the confederation. During the month of Novem- 
ber the governments of Baden,Wirtemberg, and Hesse signed 
at Versailles conventions providing for a close military con- 
solidation with Prussia, and looking to political union with 
the confederation. On November 30, King Lewis of Bavaria 
addressed an open letter to each of the ruling princes of 
Germany, and to the senates of the three free cities, inviting 
them to confer on the King of Prussia, as the head of united 
Germany, the title of " German Emperor." Answers were 
at once received from every state approving the proposition ; 
and on December 3, Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, the king's 
uncle, in the name of the governments of Germany, tendered 
to William I., at Versailles, the imperial crown. The provis- 
ional changes in the constitution of the North German Con- 
federacy needed to transform it into the German Empire were 
speedily made ; and the legislative bodies of all the states, 
except Bavaria, completed the work by accepting the treaties 
executed at Versailles, and adopting the new constitution. 



752 



HISTORY OF GERMANY. 



Book VI. 




William I. (1871). 

Ratifications were exchanged December 30, and the "Reichs- 
rath," or general council of the nation, proclaimed the em- 
pire as taking its date from January 1, 1871. 

§ 5. In Bavaria, the ultramontane or Jesuit party was 
strong, and, in alliance with the " particularists," or local 
"patriots," made a protracted opposition to the union, in 
spite of the open efforts of the king and the distinctly ex- 
pressed will of the people. King William, in deference to 
this most important of the South German states, postponed 
from day to day the formal assumption of the imperial crown ; 
but on January 14 he dispatched an open letter to all the 
princes of Germany, declaring that he now assumed it, not 
in the spirit of the emperors who, during the Middle Ages, 



Chap. XXXVI. THE EMPIRE PROCLAIMED. 753 

wasted the strength of Germany in vain attempts to extend 
their dominion over other nations, but with the sincere de- 
sire, having finished victoriously the-war in which an unjus- 
tifiable attack had involved the Germans, and having secured 
their frontier against French aggression, to constitute an em- 
pire of peace and prosperity, in which the people of Germany 
may find and enjoy what for centuries they have sought and 
struggled for. The ceremonial proclamation of the em];)ire 
took place at Versailles, January 18, the one hundred and 
seventieth anniversary of the assumption of the crown of 
Prussia by Frederick III., Elector of Brandenburg, and was 
marked by a proclamation of the emperor to the German 
people, expressing the same earnest desire that the glory of 
the empire may be sought and found in peaceful well-being, 
not in conquest. Only three days later, January 21, the Ba- 
varian Chamber of Deputies finally ratified the treaty of 
union, and the German Empire was fully constituted. Thus, 
when the preliminaries of peace were signed at Versailles, 
February 26, 1871, the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine 
were expressly ceded to a power which had no existence 
when the war begun, and which may be said to have been 
created by the war itself — the German Empire. 

§ 6, The triumphant termination of the war aroused 
throughout Germany an enthusiasm for the empire and for 
its rulers which seemed to afford them a splendid opportu- 
nity to organize and consolidate it. In the midst of the na- 
tional rejoicing over the peace and its glorious terms, the 
elections were held (March 3) for the first Diet of the empire 
(Reichstag). They resulted in the choice of a large majority 
of national delegates from South Germany : Hesse sent an 
unbroken delegation, of friends of the empire; Wirtemberg, 
sixteen out of seventeen ; Baden, twelve out of fourteen ; and 
even Bavaria, long the stronghold of the ultramontane party, 
sent twenty-nine liberals and but nineteen members of the 
opposition. But this result was counterbalanced by a sin- 
gular growth of the clerical party in Prussia, which, by ex- 
traordinary effort, succeeded in sending thirty-six delegates, 
mainly from the Rhine provinces, Westphalia, and Silesia; 
though it had chosen in the latest election only eight mem- 
bers to the Diet of the North German Confederation. These, 

Ccc 



754 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

with the thirteen delegates from Prussian Poland, who were 
still fanatically devoted to Polish nationality, and a very 
small number of radical democrats, representing the Interna- 
tional Society, were the opposition which the imperial party 
had to meet in all its efforts to organize the nation ; and the 
patriotic spirit Avith which the other parties were ready to 
unite in the work seemed to promise that the opposition 
should be no serious obstacle. The Diet assembled at Ber- 
lin March 21, while congratulations from Germans over the 
world were pouring in, and the government was engaged in 
distributing rewards and honors to the heroes of the war. 
It was opened by the emperor in person in an appropriate 
speech, which dissatisfied only those who expected a vain- 
glorious strain of exultation. He congratulated the nation 
on the accomplishment of its long desire and efibrt for unity, 
and devoutly expressed the hope that the restored empire 
would find its future greatness as victor in the struggle of 
the nations for the blessings of peace. The Diet prepared 
an address in response, which was in spirit an echo of the 
emperor's, and represented its members as ready for the work 
before them — the more perfect constitution of the empire, 
and the establishment and security of peace and of liberty. 

§ 7. It was in the debate upon this address that the great 
conflict began between the German government and the 
Church of Rome, which has filled the early days of the new 
empire with the bitterest party strife, and still threatens se- 
riously to interfere with its political prosperity. The Peace 
of Westphalia, in 1648, provided for the legal existence of 
the Catholic and the Reformed churches side by side, a 
princely house, professing either faith, being entitled to es- 
tablish and maintain its own church throughout its own do- 
minions. Starting with this principle, gradual progress was 
made until a very recent period toward general religious lib- 
erty. Prussia, especially, though most of its monarchs have 
been zealous Protestants, has come into the possession of dis- 
tricts, like Silesia and the Rhine provinces, in which the ma- 
jority of the people are Catholics, and, indeed, the Catholics 
number in all one third of the entire population. As well 
from policy as on Protestant principles, the Prussian govern- 
ment was eminently tolerant. Being traditionally a "pater- 



Chap. XXXVI. CHURCH AND STATE IN GERMANY. 755 

nal government," which concerns itself much more partic- 
ularly with the personal life of the citizen than does that of 
any community speaking the English tongue, it assumes a 
supervision over religious worship and religious education; 
but in all respects, except the direct support and example of 
the court, it has, for more than twenty years, extended the 
same privileges and liberties to its Catholic as to its Evan- 
gelical subjects. The pastors and priests of both churches 
received education at national universities of their own faith; 
the children at the schools were instructed in the religion of 
their parents ; and no interference with the freedom of wor- 
ship and of opinion was possible. The same was practically 
true of the South German states when the war of 1870 be- 
gan ; not only of Wirtemberg and Hesse, where, as in Prus- 
sia; the Protestants were largely in the majority, but also in 
Baden and Bavaria, where the Catholics formed five sevenths 
of the population. 

§ 8. These peaceful relations between the churches and the 
governments in Germany were not disturbed by any out- 
break of religious feeling or prejudice on the Protestant side. 
The conflict into which Romanism has there been drawn is 
entirely political in its character, and has grown out of the 
remarkable change which the Catholic Church itself has ex- 
perienced during the pontificate of Pius IX. It is necessary 
to recapitulate the leading facts of this change in order to 
understand the present situation in Europe. Pope Gregory 
XVI., who died in 1846, was a narrow and bigoted enemy of 
modern thought, who forbade Catholic savans to attend the 
meetings of learned societies, and regarded railroads as de- 
vices of the archfiend. But he lacked the personal power to 
make a permanent impression on the church, and his pontif- 
icate is nearly a blank in its history. Mastai Ferretti was 
chosen to succeed him, as a man whose enlightened character 
and liberal views would conciliate the modern spirit, and set 
the papacy abreast of the religious and political thought of 
this century. The Italians, indeed, rejoiced in his election as 
a pledge of freedom to them ; and his first acts only confirmed 
their joy, for he at once issued an amnesty for political of- 
fenses, restoring thousands of banished malcontents to their 
homes, and before the year'ended he appointed a commission 



766 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

to frame a plan for reforming the administration of the Papal 
government. Within a few months, he summoned a council 
of delegates of the people, and surrounded his throne with a 
guard of volunteers. The Jesuit party were enraged, and a 
conspiracy against the new pope's life, in which Lambruschini, 
who had been his chief competitor for the dignity, was sus- 
pected of being implicated, was suppressed by the devoted 
zeal of the Roman people. The pope expelled the Jesuits from 
his state (March 28, 1848), and issued a proclamation to the 
people of Italy, declaring that the great popular movement of 
the year in behalf of free institutions was not the work of man, 
but of God. But the people, intoxicated by the taste of free- 
dom, soon went too far ; and in November, 1848, terrified him 
by a display of arms into sanctioning a democratic revolu- 
tion. At the first opportunity he fled to Gaeta, and from 
thence poured out his anathemas on all his former friends. 
This was the turning-point of his career. During his exile he 
fell under the control of the Jesuit party ; and since his re- 
turn to Rome, under the protection of the French army, April 
4, 1850, he has devoted all his energies to imposing on the 
chui'ch the extreme doctrines of the papacy of the Middle 
Age's. His success has been one of the most conspicuous 
features in recent European history ; and to find a pope who 
has so profoundly impressed his personality upon his Church, 
we must look back to Innocent III. or to Hildebrand. 

§ 9. Pius IX. has for many years believed himself to be the 
favorite of the Virgin Mary, inspired and guided by her in 
his office. On December 8, 1854, he proclaimed at Rome, as 
an article of faith, " The Immaculate Conception of the Vir- 
gin." The tendency of the Catholic Church had long been 
to exalt Mary to divine honors, and the official promulgation 
of the doctrine excited little controversy within its bounds ; 
a few dissentients consoling themselves with the reflection 
that the pope alone, without a council, could not bind their 
minds and consciences. During the protracted struggle of 
Italy for political unity, the language of the court of Rome 
became more arrogant as its provinces fell away ; and the 
pope's organs openly demanded that the European nations 
should uphold his temporal dominion, on the ground that he 
is the Vicegerent of Christ, " the King of kings and Lord of 



Chap. XXXVI. THE EEACTION AT ROME. 757 

lords." His warfare against modern civilization took its final 
form December 8, 1864, when Europe was astonished by the 
appearance of an Encyclical Letter, addressed to all Catho- 
lic bishops, expressing his condemnation of the principal be- 
liefs in science, politics, and religion which are characteris- 
tic of the nineteenth century. It was accompanied by a 
Syllabus, or list, of eighty errors in belief and practice, which 
the pope denounced and condemned ; and all of which he, by 
his apostolic authority, commanded every son of the Cath- 
•olic Church to denounce and condemn. As far as this man- 
ifesto concerned religious doctrine only, it was of no politic- 
al significance. But it declared without disguise that the 
Church has the riglit to coerce dissenters, and to employ and 
control the civil powers in executing its decrees; it denounced 
as damnable the assertion that the popes have ever been 
guilty of usurpation in assuming authority over princes and 
governments ; it proscribed freedom of opinion and worship 
as intolerable errors ; and proclaimed it heresy to advocate 
a reconciliation of the Church with modern civilization. In 
short, the pope defiantly arrogated to himself in the nine- 
teenth century every power which his predecessors had at- 
tempted to exercise in the Middle Ages ; and gave notice to 
the governments of Christendom that all Catholics owed to 
him a higher allegiance than to them. The Protestant pow- 
ers of Europe, including Prussia, treated this step with con- 
temptuous indifierence; but the Catholic powers regarded it 
as an attack upon their sovereignty, and in France, and even 
in Portugal, the government prohibited the publication of 
the Letter and Syllabus. But Napoleon III. still strove to 
conciliate the Catholic party in France by maintaining the 
pope as sovereign in Rome against the will of Italy and of 
the Roman people themselves. At the end of 1866, he with- 
drew his troops, in pursuance of a treaty with Italy guaran- 
teeing the papal throne against attack from the Italians.; but 
in October, 1867, Garibaldi occupied Rome, and the French 
returned, drove him out, and remained to guard the pope. 

§ 10. In 1868 Austria adopted, as a part of the legislation 
by which the empire took the form of a constitutional mon- 
archy, a series of laws relating to education, marriage, free- 
dom of the press and of worship, which practically abolished 



758 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

the "concordat" of 1855, and deprived the Roman Church 
of the exceptional powers granted by that instrument, though 
they left it still, as Count Beust truly declared, every priv- 
ilege which it enjoyed in any European country. These laws 
led to a memoraV^le conflict between the Austrian govern- 
ment and the Catholic clergy ; and the pope seized the occa- 
sion, in a secret consistory, again solemnly to denounce liber- 
ty of conscience and of the press as works of the devil, while 
his clergy commanded all Catholics in Austria to disregard 
and disobey such .laws. At the same time (June 22, 1869) 
he announced his purpose to summon, at the end of 1869, a 
General Council of the Church ; and one week later the bull 
was published setting forth the work which this council must 
undertake. It was to consider the state of modern society, 
especially its encroachments on the ancient prerogatives of 
the Church, in suppressing religious orders, circulating " un- 
godly books and pestilential journals," and destroying the 
control of the clergy over education, and to find remedies for 
these evils. In short, the Encyclical and Syllabus of Decem- 
ber 8, 1864, were to receive the sanction of the Universal 
Church. But even this prospect was soon overshadowed by 
the announcement, in the Jesuit press, that the principal ob- 
ject of the council would be to proclaim, as an article of 
faith, the Infallibility of the Pope, when speaking authorita- 
tively to the Church on questions of doctrine or morals. It 
was to be the first Genei-al Council since that of Trent was 
adjourned in 1563 by the famous cry of the Cardinal of Lor- 
raine, "Anathema upon all heretics;" and it promised to be 
the last, since the pope, once found to be infallible, could 
have no additional authority given to his decisions or utter- 
ances by the concurrence of his bishops. 

§ 11. The Roman Church in Germany holds peculiar rela- 
tions to the people and the government. It is recognized as 
a legal institution, side by side with the Evangelical Church, 
and receives its revenues from the state, in compensation for 
the Church estates which have been " secularized." The 
appointment of its bishops and the education of its clergy 
are under the supervision of the civil authorities; and it has 
• schools and universities of its own, sustained by state sub- 
sidies. Even in the schools of Protestant Prussia, religious 



Chap. XXXVI. THE CATHOLICS IN GERMANY. 759 

instruction is given to Catholic children by their own priests, 
at the expense of the state. Thus the Roman Church in 
Germany, and especially in the universities, stands in the full 
light of modern science and thought ; and is compelled to 
endure severer tests of its consistency and intelligence than 
in any other countr3^ The theology of the German Catholic 
universities has thus come to assume a more consistent and 
plausible type than that of the Church at large, and to be 
free from much of the ignorance and superstition which pre- 
vail in Catholic countries. Indeed, the German bishops and 
clergy themselves were greatly influenced by their relations 
to the universities and their intercourse with learned Prot- 
estants, and formed by far the most liberal as well as the 
most intelligent body of Catholics in Europe. This state of 
things has, indeed, been the object of constant attack by the 
Jesuit party, since they obtained control of Pius IX. ; and 
they have striven by all means to isolate the Church from 
the intellectual world, to secure the education of the priests 
for themselves in their own seminaries, and to stamp their 
ultramontane views upon the whole body of Catholics ; but 
their success appeared in 1869 to have been but small. The 
German bishops held a conference at Fulda, in Hesse, Sep- 
tember, 1869, at which they united in regarding the declara- 
tion of the pope's infallibility as at least " inopportune," 
and foreshadowed a resolute opposition to the measure in 
the council. Catholic scholars of the highest eminence, like 
Di". DuUinger, of Munich, protested in advance against the 
defiance by the Church of Christian principle and of historic 
truth ; and leading Catholic statesmen, like Prince Hohen- 
lohe of Bavaria, called on the united governments of Europe 
to take measures to meet an attempt of the council to make 
the pope supreme over all rulers and people. 

§ 12. The council met December 8, 1869. It was composed 
of about seven hundred bishops, of whom about two hun- 
dred, including a vast majority of the scholarship and intel- 
ligence of the body, were opposed to the new dogma; while 
a large part of the majority were the merely nominal bish- 
ops of remote lands ((In partihus infidelinm), living in Italy 
in immediate dependence on the pope. Three hundred of the 
bishops were literally too poor to obtain food at their own 



>jQQ HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

expense, and received from the pope their daily bread. Th.ese, 
together with the bishops " in partihus,^'' formed a compact 
phalanx under the direction of the papal court, which con- 
trolled the council. The claims of this body to represent 
the Christian world may be appreciated from the fact that 
the papal state, containing at that time 720,000 inhabitants, 
had 143 bishops, while France, Germany, and Austria togeth- 
er, with more than half the Catholics of Europe, had but 151. 
The work of the council was carefully prepared beforehand; 
and such precautious had been taken against free discus- 
sion that the minority soon found themselves helpless. The 
Jesuit party, indeed, were disappointed in their hope of pro- 
claiming the new dogma at once, and adjourning after a 
short and harmonious session. A majority of the German 
bishops were earnest in their opposition ; they presented ar- 
guments against the dogma from Church history, to which 
no answer could be made, and Strossmayer, Bishop of Servia, 
was driven from the rostrum as a heretic by the clamor of 
the Italian Jesuits. They besought the pope, in private and 
in public, not to declare war against the civil governments 
of Europe, and foretold a conflict with these powers, in which 
the Church must suffer. It was found necessary to bring to 
bear upon the minority every influence which Rome could 
Control; and these, skillfully exercised for six months, were 
so potent in weakening and dissolving the opposition, that in 
July the Jesuits felt strong enough publicly to proclaim the 
new dogma. This was done July 18, 1870, three days after 
the declaration of war by France against Prussia. The 
bishops who remained resolute in resistance presented to the 
pope a written protest, and left Rome a few days before the 
iinal vote, which was nearly unanimous. The council was 
then prorogued until November 11 ; but it never met again, 
since the disasters of France compelled the withdrawal of 
the French garrison from Rome in August, and in Septem- 
ber the Italian troops occupied the city, and put an end to 
the pope's temporal sovereignty. By a bull of October 20, 
the pope postponed the reassembling of the council indefi- 
nitely, on the ground that, during the occupation of Rome by 
the Italians, the bishops could not enjoy the freedom and se- 
curity required for their deliberations. 



Chap. XXXVI. THE NEW DOGMA IN GERMANY. 761 

§ 13. Immediately after the adjournment of the council, a 
systematic and general effort was made to induce or compel 
all bishops, priests, professors, and teachers in Germany to 
accept the doctrine of papal infallibility. Its success was 
rapid and surprising, at least in bringing the bishops to rec- 
ognize the authority of Rome. A number of these met again 
at Fulda, among them several who had been prominent in 
the opposition at the council, and resolved zealously to urge 
on the Church the acceptance of the new doctrine. The Bish- 
ops of Munich, Treves, Ermeland, and Mayence joined the 
" Infallibiiists " at once, and zealously. On the other hand, 
a large part of the professors and instructors in the Catholic 
universities of Germany refused to yield ; and at a confer- 
ence held at Nuremberg in August, formally voted that the 
Council of the Vatican had not the authority of a General 
Church Council, and that its affirmance of a dogma was in- 
valid. At this time the governments of Germany were whol- 
ly occupied with the war, and the public attention of Eu- 
rope was diverted from the conflicts in the Church by the 
progress of the German conquest of France. The Prussian 
ministry, like those of France and Austria, had warned the 
papal court, during the sessions of the council, of the danger 
that the promulgation of infallibility would lead to a Weach 
between Church and State ; but it was not until Febru- 
ary, 1871, that any public indication of its policy was given. 
A petition was presented to Von Miihler, the minister of ed- 
ucation, asking for the removal of the Catholic teachers in 
the gymnasium at Breslau, who denied the doctrine of papal 
infallibility, on the ground that the foundation belonged to 
the Catholic Church. The minister refused, declaring that 
the endowment dated from a time when Catholicism implied 
no such doctrine, and that the teachers in question had not 
forsaken any part of the faith known as Catholic before the 
Vatican Council. On the 18th of the. same month, the ultra- 
montane members of the Prussian House of Deputies pre- 
sented to the king at Versailles an address, asking him to re- 
store the temporal power of the pope, to which no answer was 
made. The clerical party busied themselves in the selection 
of able candidates for the first Diet of the new empire, and 
in bringing out the strongest vote possible. The elections 



V62 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

were held March 3, 18*71, and thro\igli the neglect of other 
parties, which had scarce any organization, but relied on the 
popular enthusiasm aroused by the war, the clericals carried 
forty-three districts, though they had previously controlled 
but ten; and elected in all of them men pledged to act as a 
distinct party, devoted entirely to the cause of the Church. 
This party was a new and significant fact in German politics. 
These, together with eighteen " clericals " from Bavaria, and 
four from Baden and Wirtemberg, formed the " centre " or 
ultramontane party in the Diet. 

§ 14. After the Diet met, March 21, public attention was 
at once drawn to the issue between the State and the Church, 
which was every day more clearly defined. In January and 
February the Bishops of Ermeland and Cologne, now become 
obedient servants of the infallible pope, undertook to compel 
all Catholic instructors hi the gymnasia to teach the new 
Roman dogma, and even assumed to forbid such as rejected 
it to retain their offices. Only a few days befoie the Diet 
was opened the ministry notified the bishops publicly that 
the supervision of these instructors rested with the civil au- 
thorities, and thsft no teacher could be suspended or control- 
led in his instruction by the clergy. The Bavarian govern- 
ment refused its consent to the promulgation of the decrees 
of the Vatican Council. Dr. DoUinger, the most eminent his- 
torian and theologian of the Catholic Church, published (May 
28) his reply to the Archbishop of Munich, who demanded 
his assent to the new doctrine, offering to prove to the bish- 
ops of Germany, or to the commission of the Cathedral Chap- 
ter of Munich, that the pope's infallibility has no support in 
Scripture or in the Fathers, that it is in direct contradiction 
to the decisions of former councils and popes, and is irrecon- 
cilable witfi the constitutions of the European states. As 
a Christian, as a theologian, as a student of history, and as a 
citizen, he rejects the dogma; and declai'es that, if accepted 
by the Catholics of Germany, it will at once plant in the new 
empire the germ of irremediable decay. This letter stirred 
the religious world of Germany and of Europe to its depths, 
and aroused hosts of intelligent Catholics to protest against 
the proposed subjection of the civil to the spiritual power. 
The active political struggle began in the Diet March 30, 



Chap. XXXVI. THE CLERICALS IN THE DIET. 7G3 

when an address to the emperor was proposed by the leaders 
of all parties, except the clerical " centre," in which it was 
emphatically declared to be the policy of the empire to de- 
velop its new resources in peace, and carefully to avoid all 
intermeddling with the aifairs of other nations, respecting 
the right of each to make its own way to national unity, and 
to frame its own constitution. The clerical party resisted 
with energy every declaration which would bind the empire 
not to restore the pope's temporal power, and proposed a sub- 
stitute for the address which would leave this question un- 
touched. The discussion opened the entire controversy which 
has since agitated the empire; and the national address was 
carried by a vote of 243, against the 63 " clericals." 

§ 15. At the beginning of April, the proposed constitution 
of the new empire was considered in tlie Diet. The leaders 
of the centre moved an amendment, securing to all Germans 
the absolute freedom of the press, of assembly, association, 
and discussion; and especially the right of each Church to 
its own ecclesiastical government, independent of the state. 
In the support of this amendment, Roman bishops were found 
advocating the most complete liberty of opinion, debate, and 
worship ; and eloquent pleas for the absolute equality of all 
religious faiths before the law were made by the prelates who, 
in their own sees, preached that the Syllabus and the doc- 
trine of papal infiiUibility must be accepted on pain of eternal 
death. Neither the nation at large nor the liberal party in 
the Diet believed in the sincerity of this movement. It was 
regarded as an effort to establish the Roman Church as an 
independent sovereignty Avithin the empire; and the public 
mind, made intensely jealous of the papal power by the re- 
membrance of the long ages during which it had kept Ger- 
many dismembered, was thoroughly alarmed. The manner 
in which the priesthood, in the Catholic districts, had employ- 
ed the powers of the pulpit and the confessional to influence 
the elections, increased the alarm ; and every day sojne new 
edict of excommunication hurled against the leading Catholic 
scholars and teachers of the land, for refusing to accept the 
dogma of infallibility, aroused the indignation of all Protest- 
ants. The amendment was rejected by nearly the same ma- 
jority which had adopted the address to the king. The ef- 



764 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

fort of the clericals in the Diet had accomplished nothing but 
to define the issues between them and the mass of the nation, 
and to draw close the party lines. The government, which 
had always dealt leniently with the Catholics, was driven to 
take the lead against them. Only thus could Bismarck hope, 
amid the divisions of parties, to control a compact majority 
for the measures which seemed to him essential to the firm 
and permanent organization of the empire. 

§ 16. Meanwhile the schism in the German Catholic Church 
grew wider daily. The majority of the intellect and scholar- 
ship of the Church rejected the Vatican Council, while nearly 
the whole clergy sustained it. But the agitation was not 
confined to the Catholic world : the nation watched it, as a 
conflict in which its own fate was involved. The question 
at stake was no longer one of private faith, but of political 
life ; it was whether the pope should be recognized in Ger- 
many as a power superior to the German government and 
laws. "The Old Catholics," as the opponents of the new 
dogma called themselves, assembled in Munich, September 
23, 1871, reaflirmed their devotion to the system of doctrines 
and worship which had always been to them the Catholic 
Church, proclaimed the political character of the innova- 
tions made by the Vatican Council, and unanimously called 
on the imperial government to expel the Jesuits from Ger- 
many. They provided for the organization of " Old Catho- 
lic " churches, and demanded from the governments the rec- 
ognition of these churches, as entitled to the same privileges 
and support which had been given to the Catholic Church 
since the Peace of Westphalia. The Bavarian government 
took the lead in granting them this recognition, and prom- 
ised to protect and sustain Catholics who rejected the new 
dogma if they adhered to their faith as it was before 1870. 
The imperial government adopted the same policy, and the 
schism gradually extended throughout Germany, the Old 
Catholic organization embracing a large majority of the 
learned theologians and instructors of the ancient Church. 
But not one of the German bishops joined it; and it was not 
until June, 1873, that its ecclesiastical form was completed 
by the election, with the sanction of the imperial government, 
and those of Baden and Wirtemberg, of Professor Reinkens 



Chap. XXXVI. EELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS. 765 

as their bishop. Since he could not obtain consecration from 
the Roman hierarchy, he was ordained in July by Heykamp, 
the Jansenist bishop of Deventer, in the Netherlands ; and in 
October lie was formally acknowledged by the Prussian gov- 
ernment as a Catholic bishop, and entitled as such to the 
support of the state. 

§ 17. The conflict between the German government and 
the clerical party grew more violent in 1872. In theory, a 
large part of the German people are in favor of the entire 
separation of Church and State, so that each shall be inde- 
pendent within its own province. But the position of the 
Evangelical and the Catholic churches in Germany, as estab- 
lished institutions intimately associated with the state, draw- 
ing their revenues from public funds, and sharing in the 
work of education, made a sudden separation impossible ; 
and, meanwhile, the aggressions of the Jesuit party were re- 
garded by the nation as a conspiracy against the state which 
must be decisively met, and without delay. Each Church 
had its own representation in the Prussian ministry of wor- 
ship and education ; but when the Catholic branch of this 
dejjartment became the agent of an infallible pope, claiming 
supremacy over the civil power, it could not longer be main- 
tained as a department of the Prussian government, and be- 
fore the end of 1871 it was finally abolished. The attempt 
of the Roman clergy to force upon all the schools in which 
Catholic children were taught instruction in the doctrine of 
papal infallibility, as the corner-stone of the faith, excited the 
indignation of the Parliament, and Von Miihler, the minister 
of public instruction, at the moment when he was advocat- 
ing a law to vest in the state the control of religious teach- 
to ~ 

ers in the schools, was compelled to resign, on the ground 
that he was not the man to enforce such a law thoroughly. 
Falk, the new minister, devoted all his energies to the prep- 
aration of laws which should enable the civil authorities to 
govern the schools, and to protect them fully from being 
made instruments of the Jesuit propaganda. The question' 
was complicated by the open efibrts of the Roman clergy in 
Posen to maintain the Polish language in the schools, and to 
perpetuate the traditional and national hatred of the Poles 
for their Prussian rulers. In March, 1872, the new law was 



766 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

passed, depriving the Church of all control over religious in- 
struction in the schools; and its thorough enforcement aroused 
bitter opposition, especially in Posen and Silesia, where the 
government removed the clerical schooHnspectors in multi- 
tudes. 

§ 18. It was now evident to all parties in Prussia that 
nothing could be gained by continuing the conflict, and there 
seemed to be a desire on both sides for an accommodation. 
The Prussian bishops met at Fulda, April 9, and agreed upon 
a pastoral letter, in which they bade their 2:)riests, while sub- 
mitting to the law, zealously to guard their influence over 
tlie schools. The imperial government asked permission of 
the pope to send as embassador to Rome Cardinal Hohen- 
lohe, wdio had voted for infallibility in the council, in order 
that the way might be open for negotiation on all questions 
at issue with the Roman Church. But the pope privately for- 
bade the cardinal's acceptance of the position ; and then, aft- 
er long delay, notified the German government that he could 
not receive a cardinal as an embassador. His refusal exas- 
perated the Protestant parties more than ever ; and it was 
during the debate occasioned by it in the Diet that Prince 
Bismarck gave his famous warning to the clericals : " Of this 
be sure, that neither in Church nor in State are we on the 
way to Canossa" (May 14, 1872). At this time petitions were 
laid before the Diet in great numbers, from all parts of the 
empire, comjDlaining of the means used by the bishops and 
clergy to suppress dissent from the pope's infallibility. " The 
greater excommunication" is still a weapon of immense pow- 
er in Catholic districts, since the Church forbids all inter- 
course with the offending member ; and, indeed, under the 
old Prussian law, the excommunicated person could not be 
lawfully married, nor obtain Christian baptism for his chil- 
dren nor Christian burial for himself; and thus the bishops 
were able to deprive of social comfort, and to a great extent 
of civil rights, the men who would not join in their surren- 
der to the Vatican. The Prussian law, indeed, already re- 
quired for any act of Church discipline which could affect 
civil or social rights, the sanction of the state authori- 
ties ; but the prelates disregarded this, and, in the face of 
warnings given them by the authorities, steadily strove, by 



Chap. XXXVI. JESUITS EXPELLED FROM GERMANY. 767 

all the means which their spiritual assumptions and the pop- 
ular superstition placed in their power, to impose the infal- 
lible papacy on the entire Church, and to crush out opposi- 
tion. The Archbishops of Posen and Cologne and the Bish- 
op of Ermeland made themselves conspicuous by excommu- 
nicating prominent Catholic scholars and teacheis ; and, in 
reply to the remonstrances of the authorities, rang number- 
less changes on the theme that " they must obey God rather 
than men." 

§ 19. The Diet was also stirred by petitions setting forth 
the activity and growth of the religious orders, whose mem- 
bers were devoted in implicit obedience to their superiors, 
usually foreigners, and were ceaselessly at work undermining 
the sovereignty of the law. It was shown that in Prussia 
there were in 1855 sixty-nine convents, with 976 inmates; in 
1869, eight hundred and twenty-six' convents, with 8319 in- 
mates. Of these orders the Jesuits were by far the most nu- 
merous and active, and their spirit and influence seemed to 
control the others. In Alsace and Lorraine especially, they 
ruled the Church and the schools. The Diet, in June, passed 
a law expelling foreign Jesuits from the empire, suppressing 
their institutions, and giving the government power to su- 
perintend and check all the religious orders in affiliation with 
the Jesuits. It also directed the government to prepare 
laws making civil marriage obligatory, and placing the offi- 
cial registries of marriages and births in the hands of civil of- 
ficers. The government enforced the law against the Jes- 
uits with an unsparing hand. It resulted, in some cases, in 
personal hardships, and awakened sympathy in other coun- 
tries for the pious and zealous members of the order, whose 
life-work was thus broken up, and who were deprived of 
their homes. Many persons whose sympathies were not with 
the ultramontane party have questioned the wisdom of these 
severe measures, which have certainly enabled the Jesuits 
themselves, and all the enemies of the empire, to represent it 
as a persecuting power, while they could not put a stop to 
the private work of similar religious orders. They proved, 
however, a heavy blow to the prospects of the clerical party; 
and public opinion would have sustained them had they 
been far more rigorous, remembering that even Catholic gov- 



V68 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

ernments have often been compelled, in self-defense, to expel 
the Jesuits, that Pope Clement XIV. abolished the order in 
17*73, and that Pius IX. himself, less than thirty years ago, 
drove them out of Rome. 

§ 20. At the beginning of 1873 the Prussian government 
resolved to regulate the ecclesiastical polity of the state by 
a new system of laws, which should recognize at once the 
religious liberty of the subject and the traditional claims of 
the established churches upon the state. On January 7, the 
bills which have since become famous as the Falk laws were 
introduced by that minister into the House of Deputies. 
They were freely debated there and in the House of Lords, 
and were finally passed at the beginning of May. The en- 
forcement of these laws by the Prussian government has 
been the characteristic feature of the internal history of Ger- 
many for the last year, and lias constituted what the major- 
ity of the German people regard as its chief merit — what a 
large minority of them, with all the enemies of the empire in 
other lajids, denounce as an unpardonable crime. We there- 
fore give a summary of their provisions. The first law 
merely permits the voluntary change of his Church relations 
by any member of an Established Church. Tlie second law 
provides for the education and appointment of the clei'gy 
who shall be recognized by the state as pastors ; and requires 
that every man, to be eligible to this ofiice, shall first have 
received a training in a public school and a university, side 
by side with the young men preparing for other professions, 
and shall pass such an examination in general science and 
literature, and in German history, as is required of them ; 
and, after all this, he shall not be installed in his work with- 
out the approval of the civil authorities. These restrictions 
do away with the seminaries or private monastic schools, 
into which the Roman Church in Germany has been striving 
for a generation to bring all the candidates for the clerical 
office. The third law regulates all ecclesiastical discipline and 
censure, forbidding the infliction of fine, imprisonment, and 
corporal punishment for oflenses against the Church, bringing 
the "reformatories" used for the discipline of wards of the 
Church under state supervision, and instituting an ecclesiasti- 
cal court of appeals, composed of learned judges, before which 



Chap. XXXVI. THE TALK LAWS. 769 

all questions of ecclesiastical punishment may be removed, 
on appeal, from the clerical authorities. This act is drawn 
with extreme care and skill, and is full of provisions growing 
out of the peculiar relations of the Church to the State in 
Prussia ; but it appears to aim wholly at the protection of 
the liberty of conscience against persecution, and its enforce- 
ment can scarcely be made in any case oppressive to the 
Church, since it has no application except where ecclesiasti- 
cal discipline is accused of trespassing on private rights. The 
last of these laws made marriage a civil contract, and re- 
quired for its validity the evidence which establishes any 
other contract. It will be observed that these laws apply to 
all churches, Protestant as well as Catholic ; and if their en- 
forcement constitutes a hardship for the believer in any creed, 
it is natural to suspect that creed of being inconsistent with 
political liberty and equality. 

§ 21. A final estimate of the value and wisdom of these 
laws can only be made at some future day. In the first year 
of their enforcement the government has met with many dif- 
ficulties, and seems to have lost many friends. But the pub- 
lic opinion of the nation sustains it ; and not only the Ger- 
man Empire, but Austria also, are now engaged in framing 
their ecclesiastical policy after the example of Pinissia, but 
Avith a still more emphatic assertion of the supremacy of the 
government. The conflict between papal assumptions and 
the rights of civil society was inevitable after the entire 
Catholic Church became an engine for propagating the doc- 
trines of the Syllabus ; and the question whether Germany 
has been too zealous in accepting the challenge and antici- 
pating the enemy's attack will recede from view more and 
more as it becomes evident that the struggle is a real one, 
and that the whole civilized world must in some form en- 
gage in it. The charge that the Falk laws are agencies for 
persecuting religious faith, and that the Prussian policy vio- 
lates liberty of conscience, can not be sustained : any relig- 
ious faith which these laws attack is a faith which is incon- 
sistent with civilized society ; the liberty of conscience which 
they suppress is the liberty to defy and destroy civil govern- 
ment. But the charge that the laws are politically unwise 
and unnecessary can not be so easily dismissed. It is plau- 

Ddd 



770 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book YI. 

sibly argued that in our day pei'fect liberty is an atmosphere 
which ultraniontanisra can not breathe ; tliat nothing but res- 
olute opj)osition could have lifted the papal party in Ger- 
many to importance, and that half its strength to-day lies in 
the sympathy felt for the oppressed. On the other hand, 
devout Catholics are rapidly becoming alienated from the 
government, and are growing into a compact union with the 
" particularists " and the discontented of every section, in 
opposition to the measures most essential to the future of 
the empire. Prussia has had one Poland to deal with for a 
century; another has just fallen to its lot in the conquered 
French provinces; could it not have avoided, for a long time 
to come, the constitution of a third, the most formidable of all, 
in its own Catholic districts? At this time there is no pros- 
pect of a reconciliation between the state and Rome; nor is 
it easy to believe that either party can completely obtain its 
ends until the face of Europe is changed. But as a political 
measure, "theFalk laws," and indeed the entire ecclesiastical 
policy of Germany, can only be judged by the test of success; 
and the time seems as yet to be distant when that test may 
be finally applied. 

§ 22. The constitution of the German Empire is still in a 
formative state, and progress is made every year in consoli- 
dating the national union. The "particularist" parties in 
the smaller states had influence enough, when the treaties of 
union were signed, to insist upon concessions intended to se- 
cure these states against absorption in Prussia. The guaran- 
tees then granted have in some cases proved obstacles to the 
development of the union ; but the national enthusiasm for 
the empire has gained ground rapidly, and the merely tradi- 
tional barriers of state lines are giving way before it. The 
dread of Prussian aggression seems to be dying out, and the 
empire is every where adopting all that is excellent in the 
organization and administration of the Hohenzollern king- 
dom with little opposition. This is particularly true of the 
imperial army, which is but the Prussian army of 1866, bet- 
ter equipped, and enlarged by contingents from the rest of 
Germany. The civil service of the other states has gained 
much, also, by the example of Prussian drill and efficiency; 
and, if regarded simply as an engine of administration, the 



Chap. XXXVI. LIBERAL REFORMS IN PRUSSIA. 771 

civil service of the German Empire, as a whole, is by far the 
best in the world. The empire now has definitely in view 
the establishment throughout all Germany of a uniform code 
of laws, both civil and criminal, and of judicial procedure. 
Every year enlarges the province of the imperial government, 
at the expense of the prerogatives at first reserved by the 
states; and the "National Liberal" party, the strongest and 
most growing in the nation, and that on which the present 
government mainly relies for its strength, is earnestly in 
favor of still further consolidating the empire, until it shall 
become to all Germans the recognized object of patriotism 
as their Fatherland. 

§ 23. Prussia, too, has been greatly influenced by its rela- 
tions to the empire. Of all constitutional monarchies, Prus- 
sia, in its internal organization, is the most influenced by feudal 
traditions. In the famous "constitutional struggle" which 
preceded the war of 1866, it was on the House of Lords that 
the monarchy and Bismarck relied, when they built up the 
army and organized victory over Austria, in defiance of the 
representatives of the peoijle. But the high Tory party which 
then sustained the throne could not unite the empire; and 
after 1870 the prince-chancellor himself gradually, but reso- 
lutely, abandoned the conservatives, by whose aid all his tri- 
umphs had been won, and threw his controlling influence in 
favor of more liberal institutions. Nothing has illustrated 
his greatness as a statesman so much as his cheerful and zeal- 
ous acquiescence in the necessity of reforming Prussia, that 
it might be the nucleus of the empire. The most important 
measure yet taken for this purpose was the law reorganizing 
the local governments in the eastern provinces of Prussia, 
passed by the House of Delegates March 23, 1872, by a ma- 
jority of four fifths of the whole. This act abolished hun- 
dreds of antiquated feudal privileges and burdens, greath^ 
diminished the authority and influence of the minor nobility, 
and gave the people control of their own local and municipal 
interests. The House of Lords mainly represented the class 
which would suff*er by this act, and resisted it, though the en- 
tire influence of the government was actively employed in its 
favor, for several months. After a memorable Parliamentai y 
struggle, the king created twenty-five new peers, who took 



y 

772 HISTORY OF GERMANY. Book VI. 

their seats and voted for the bill ; which was at last passed, 
December 7, 1872, by 116 votes against 91, many of the con- 
servatives having abandoned the contest as hopeless. This 
event was fatal to the old feudal party, with which Bismarck's 
early political history was identified ; it also marked the en- 
trance of the Prussian monarchy npon a new era, in which 
its power must rest entirely upon the people's will. 

§ 24. The government of Alsace and Lorraine is a problem 
which pi'omises long to tax the wisdom of the new empire. 
When these provinces were torn from France, the German 
people regarded them as kindred rescued from foreign bond- 
age, and fondly trusted that the mass of their population 
would speedily become loyal subjects of the empire. This 
hope has been utterly disappointed ; and though but a small 
proportion of the people have left their homes to retain their 
French citizenship, yet most of them unquestionably look to 
the Germans as foreign conquerors, and on France as their 
country. The acquisition of these provinces has strengthen- 
ed the military frontier of the empire ; but in all other re- 
spects it is a source of weakness. In case of a war with 
France it affords the Germans a vantage ground ; but in the 
political development of the nation it is a serious hinderance. 
For three years they have been governed by a dictatorship, 
probably the wisest, kindest, and most liberal that a con- 
queror ever exercised, but it has accomplished nothing visible 
toward incorporating them in the German nation ; and their 
repi'esentatives now enter the imperial Diet as the irrecon- 
cilable foes of the national government, side by side with 
those of Poland and of the Vatican. Meanwhile the occu- 
pation of these districts is regarded by the French as a per- 
petual challenge, and all the energies of the richest land on 
the Continent of Europe are slowly gathering themselves to- 
gether in hope of " revenge." France is crippled, and per- 
haps for many years to come will be so obviously inferior in 
strength to the empire that it will avoid the unequal conflict ; 
but it would even now be a formidable ally of any one of the 
great powei's with which Germany miglit quarrel; and a 
great nation watching hourly for an opportunity to attack is 
that which no government can aiford to despise. The situa- 
tion is discouraging to all friends of human progress, in that 



Chap. XXXVI. DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS OF GERMANY. -773 

the resources of the fairest part of Europe are largely ab- 
sorbed year by year in preparations for war; and the com- 
fort, leisure, intelligence, and moral growth of millions of 
people are sacrificed to the pride of national triumph or the 
passion for national revenge, with no prospect of improve- 
ment unless it be reached through exhaustion. 

§ 25. The relations of the German Empire to the other Eu- 
ropean powers are such, however, that its statesmen seem 
confident of a long peace. Nothing in the history of Europe 
better illustrates the power of wise diplomacy than the suc- 
cess with which the new government has courted the friend- 
ship of Russia, Austria, and Italy. The men who direct the 
destinies of Prussia have been remarkably free from the pas- 
sions that have commonly accompanied military power and 
success; the self-control and far-seeing wisdom they have 
shown during the last three years, in their dealings with the 
nations just named, will be long remembered in history. The 
aid and sympathy given by Italians to France prolonged the 
war of 1870; the oppression of the Germans in the Baltic 
provinces, by their Sclavonic rulers, is a continuous. source 
of irritation to Germany, Avhile the most enterprising party 
in Russia regards the German Empire as the only serious 
obstacle to its aspirations. The Austrian monarchy, still 
smarting under Sadowa, was only withheld from joining Na- 
poleon in his march to the Rhine by the dread of Russia. 
And yet within two years after the Peace of Frankfort, the 
three emperors of Eastern Europe were united in an alliance 
with the avowed purpose, which still seems to be sincere, of 
preserving peace. The diplomacy of Bismarck has retained 
the firm friendship of the Czar, in spite of the avowed hostil- 
ity of Russian public sentiment; has won the alliance of the 
Austro -Hungarian Empire, in spite of the long -cherished 
prejudice of the court of Vienna; and has secured the cor- 
dial respect of the Italian government and the trust of the 
Italian people 



INDEX. 



ABDERRAMAN. 



Abderraman, Emir of the Arabs, 70, 88. 

Caliph, in Spaiu, 137. 

Abel,Kiug of Denmark, 312. 

Abodrites, the, a Sclavonic tribe, 89, 126, 
147. 

Accou, siege of, 223. 

Adalbert of Bremen, 160. Adviser of 
Henry IV., 163 sq. 

Adalbert of Mayeuce, 176. Makes Lo- 
thaire king, 181. 

Adalrich, Bishop of Augsburg, 135. 

Adam of Schwarzenburg, Chancellor of 
Brandenburg, 478. 

Adelbert of Babenberg, deceived by Hat- 
to, 114 sq. 

of Prague, St., shrine of, 144. Death 

of, 223, 232. 

Adeldag, Archbishop of Bremen, 132. 

AdelgisJ Prince of the Lombards, 84, 8S sq. 

Adelheid of Burgundy, 120. Marries Otto 
I., 134, 138 .Sf?., 142 s<?. 

, daughter of Lewis the Pious, 120. 

- — , wife of Barbarossa, divorced, 188. 

Adolphus (Althaulf), King of the Goths, 
37. Spares Rome, 38. Death of, ib. 

of Nassau, German king, 243 sq. Pol- 
icy of, 244 sq. Slain, 245. 

11. of Nassau, Archbishop of May- 

ence, 301, 351. 

Adrian I., Pope, 83. 

IV., Pope, 1S8 sqq. 

VL, Pope, 376. 

Adriauople, battle of, 35. 

Adventurers of all nations in the Thirty- 
Years' War, 439. 

.(Edui, the. ask Caesar's aid, 8. 

.iE,'idius, King of Gaul, 57. 

.(Eaeas Sylvius, 282, 323 sq. {see Pius II.). 

Actius, Roman governor in Gaul, 39, 41, 
57. 

Africa, invaded by the Vandals, 38. Re- 
conquered by the Eastern Empire, 51. 

Agilulf, King of the Langobards, 54. 

Agilultiugers, ducal house of, 04. 

Agiucourt, battle of, 852. 

Agnes of Poitiers, wife of Henry III., 157. 
Regent, 161. 

, daughter of Henry IV., married, 170. 

A second time, 172. 

of Staufeu, secret marriage of, 199. 

Agriculture introduced into Germany, 27. 

Aichspalter, Peter, physician, 249. 

Aiguan, St., French embassador, 646. 

Aix, Charlemagne's favorite city, 94. As- 
sembly at, 100. Sacked by the Nor- 
mans, 112. Conrad crowned at, 183. 
Barbarossa, 186. Rudolph, 241. Other 
emperors, 193, 249, 254, 292, 362. De- 



ALSACE. 

scribed in the fifteenth century, 323. 
Peace of, 459. Congress of, in 1S18, 671. 

Alani, the tribe of, 30, 34, 36 sq., 41. 

Alaric, the Goth, 36. Invades Italy, ib. sq. 

II., 59. 

Alba, the Duke of, 389, 391. 

Albert Achilles, Burgrave of Nuremberg, 
294. City war against, 331. 

Albert Alcibiades of Brandenburg, 303 sq. 

Albert I., son of Rudolph of Hapsburg, 
242 sj. Emperor, 245. And the Pope, 246 
sq. Assassination of, 248. In Switzer- 
land, 270. 

Albert, son of Albert I., 257. 

IL (V. of Austria), 285. Emperor, 

2S7. His reign, ib. sqq. Power of, 289. 
Death of, 289 sq. 

of Brandenburg, Grandmaster of the 

German order, 339, 379, 408. 

the Degenerate, of Thuriugla, 245. 

of Saxony, founder of the Albertine 

line, 293 sq. 

, Prince of Sase-Coburg-Gotha and of 

Great Britain, 293. 

, Duke of Bavaria, 299. 

of Mecklenburg, King of Sweden, 328. 

, Archbishop oi' Mayence, 357. 

Frederick of Brandenburg, 408. 

, Crown-Prince of Saxou}', 70S sq., 716, 

723. 

Albertns Magnus of Cologne, 350. 

All)oin, King of the Lombards, 53. Slain 
by Rosamuud, 54. 

Alchemy in the Middle Ages, 350. 

Alcuin, the Anglo-Saxon, 97. 

Alexander IL, Pope, resists Henry IV., 
165. 

IIL, Pope, 191, 194. 

VI., Pope (Borgia), 356. 

, Papal Legate at Worms, 307. 

, Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, 702. 

I., Czar of Russia, 567 .sg^., 597 sqq. 

Quarrel of, with Napoleon, 611. Dres- 
den and Leipsic campaign of, Chap. 
XXX. At Paris, 654. 

Alfred the Great of England, 112. 

Allemanni, a German nation, 35, 45 sqq., 
59, 65, 114. 

Allemannic dialect, 106. 

Allerheim, battle at, 434. 

Alliance, the great, against Louis XIV., 
462. 

Allodium, or absolute ownership of the 
soil, 65. Surrendered for fiefs, 67. 

Alphonso of Castile claims the crown, 238. 

Alsace, secured by Conrad I., 118. Ceded 
to France, 435. Cities seized by Louis 
XIV., 435. Demanded by Germany, 
660, 727. Ceded to Germany, 747. Gov- 
ernment of, 772 sq. 



116 



ALTENESCH. 



INDEX. 



AUSTEKLITZ. 



Altenesch, battle at, 313. 

Alteustein, Pnissiau minister, 590, 60S. 

Altenzauii, afl'aii- at, 593. 

Alvenslebeu I. and II., Prussian generals, 

716. 
Alvinzi, Italian general, 558. 
Amadeus of Savoy, Pope Felix V., 290. 
Amalasuntha, daughter of Theodoric, 51. 
Aniali, the royal house of the East Goths, 

30, 44, 01. 
Amalie Elisabeth, Landgravine of Hesse- 

Cassel, 436. 
Amalie of Weimar, 529. 
Ambrose, St., denounces the monks, 221. 
Amelia, Princess of England, 490. 
Amiens, Peace of, 564 sq. 
Ampling, tieUs of, battle in the, ioo. 
Anacletus, AiUipope, 182 sq. 
Anastasius, Emperor of the East, 60. 

IV., Pope, 188. 

Anchises, husband of Begga, 69. 
Andreossy, French embassador, 598. 
Angles, 39. 
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, 39. 

missionaries, 74 sq. 

Anglo-Saxons, 39, 46 sqq., 90. Learning 

of, 97. 
Angrariaus, 85. 
Augrivarii, 10, 13. 
Anjou, house of, in Naples, 239. 
Anna, daughter of Wenzel III., 251. 
Anne, Queen of England, 467. 
Anne Paulowna of Russia, slighted by 

Napoleon, 611. 
Ansegisel, father of Pepin of Heristal, 120. 
Anselm, theoloijian, 350. 
Ansgarius, missionary and bishop, 100, 127. 
Autharis, King of the Langobards, 54. 
Antruetiones, or great vassals, 07. 
Apitz, son of Albert of Thuringia, 245. 
Apraxin, Russian general, 514 sq. 
Apulia, seized by the Greeks, 109. By 

Lothaire, 183. 
Aquije Sextife, now Aix (near Marseilles), 

triumph of Marius at, 7. 
Aquinas, St. Thomas, theologian, 350. 
Aquitaine, under native dukes, 82. Un- 
der Lewis the Pious, 102. 
Arabs, the, invade the Frank kingdom, 

70. In Spain, 88. As traders, 94. In 

Italy, 140. 
Arcadius, Emperor of the East, 36. 
Archbishops, as Electors, 236. Sale of 

their votes, 238. 
Architecture, church, in the 13th century, 

226 sq. In the cities, 450. 
Arcis-sur-Aube, battle at, 652. 
Ardennesj forest of, 96. 
Arduin of Ivrea, 147. 
Arelat, 109 {see Burgundy). 
Argens, the Marquis of, 509. 
Arian races and languages, 3. Tribes in 

Southern Europe, 4. Religion, 23. 
sect of Christians, 48. Among the 

Lombards, 55. Doctrines of, 58, 90. 

Among the Germans, 91. 
Aribert, Archbishop of Milan, 153, 155. 
Arichis, Duke of Benevento, 84. 
Ariovistus and Csesar, 8. 
Aristocracy, in the German cities, 319 sq. 
Aristotle, brought to Italy by the Sara- 
cens, 215. 



Armada, the "Invincible," of Philip II., 
401. 

Armagnacs, 292 sq. 

Arminms, revolt of, 13 sq. Assassinated, 
15. Monument of his victory, S3. 

Armistice with the Hungarians, 125. 

of Versailles, 745. 

Armor in the 15th century, 338. 

of knights, 218. 

Armorica (Brittany) subdued by Clovis, .59. 

Arms of the early Germans, 17. In the 
15th century, 438 sq. In the Thirty- 
Years' War, 440. 

Army, the Prussian, in 1797, 571 sq. Re- 
organized, 590. Struggle between the 
King and Diet concerning, 6S4 sq. The 
Imperial, of 1874, 770. '• 

Arndt, German poet, 615. Quoted, 617, 
622. 

Arnim, Von, poet, 596. 

Arnold of Brescia, resists the Pope, 185, 
188. Burned, 189. .An arch-heretic, 216. 

(Struthan) of Winkeheid, gallant 

death of, 271 sq. 

Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, 69, 120. 

of Carinthia, 109, 113, 120. Crowned 

Emperor by the Pope, 114. 

, Duke of Bavaria, 118, 124. 

Arrighi, French cavalry general, 631. 

Artenay, battle of, 732. 

Arthur, King of the Celts in Wales, 39. 
Celebrated in minstrelsy, 220. 

Artillery, gradual improvement of, 353. 

Artois, Count of, 551. 

Ascanii, family of, 181 sq. In the Saxon 
Marches, 230. In Pomerania and Meck- 
lenburg, 231 sq. Extinct in Branden- 
burg, 2.59, 293, 335. 

Aspern, battle of, 599. 

Assassination of a pope, 140. 

Assembly of freemen, 70, '.»4. 

Asti, conquered by Barbarossa, 189. 

Astolph, King of the Lombards, 71 sq. 

Astronomy in the 14th and 15th centuries, 
350. 

Athanagild, father of Brunehilde, 64. 

Athanaric, King of the West Goths, 35. 

, last of the Amali, 51. 

Athanasian sect, 148. Creed, ib. 

Athanasius introduces monasticism at 
Rome, 221. 

Athelstan, King of the Anglo-Saxons, 126. 

Athens, plague in, 344. 

Attila, the Hun, 40. Marches throuirh 
Europe, 41. Invades Italy, 42. Death 
of, 43. In minstrelsy, 47. 

Attinghausen, house of, in Switzerland, 
270. 

Augsburg, important Diets at, 306 sq., 380. 
Coufessi(m of faith, 381. "Interim," 
391. Religious Peace of, 393. 

August II. of Poland, 293, 474 sq., 491. 

Augusta of Weimar, Queen of Prussia, 
708. 

Angustnlus, Romulus, last Emperor of 
the West, 43. 

Augustus Ctesar, Emperor, 9. 

Augustus of Saxony, 394, 404. 

III., Elector of Saxony, 470, 493, 503, 

510 sq. 

of Wirtemberg, Prince, 709, 716. 

Austerlitz, battle ol', 569. 



ADSTRASIANS. 



INDEX. 



BLACK GUARD. 



7r-7 



Austrasians, TO. 

Austria, German colonies in, 233 sq. Ori- 
gin of tiie Uiichy of, 2S8. Weakened, 
457 sq. luflueuce of, in Germany, 082. 
Policy of, GS5. Laws of, relating to ed- 
ucation and the Churcli, 757 sq. 

Austrian Empire, germ of, S9. 

Succession, War of tlie, 499 sq. 

Avar), a Tartar tribe, 55, SO, S9. 

Avesne, house of, in Holland, 247. 

Avignon, captured by Charles Martel, 70. 
Seat of the Papacy, 249, 273, 277 sq. 

Avron, Mount, east of Paris, bombarded, 
739. 

B. 

Babenburg, house of, encourage minstrel- 
sy, 220. Colonization, 233. In Vienna, 
288. 

"Babylonian Exile'' of the Church at 
Avignon, 277 sq. Luther's book of that 
name, 300. 

Baceuis forest, described by Caesar, 9. 

Baden, Treaty of, 470. Aggrandized, 563. 
A kingdom, 570. 

Bahrdt, Professor, imprisoned, 544. 

Balance of power in Europe, 471. 

Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, 214. 

of Luxemburg, 249. 

— — , Archbishop of Treves, 256. 

Balloons during the siege of Paris, 732, 
736. 

Balthasar Cossa {see John XXII., Pope). 

Balthi, royal house of the Goths, 30. 

Bamberg, bishopric of, 149. Diet at, 182. 

Ban of the Church, first used politically, 

72. Against an emperor, 169. Its pow- 
er, 212. 

Banner, Swedish general, 431. Death of, 
433. 

Barbarossa (see Frederick I.). 

Barclay de Tolly, general, 614. 

Barin, Prussian general, 680. 

Barrit, a battle-song of the early Ger- 
mans, 17. 

Bar-sur-Aube, battle of, 651. 

Bartholomew, St., massacre of, 402. 

Basiua, mother of Clovis, 65. 

Basinus, King of the Thuringi, 57. 

B;"i8le, origin of, 224. Councils at, 285, 
355. Peace of, 306. Peace of, in 1795, 
556. 

Basque mountaineers, 88. 

Batavi, 11, 15, 31. 

Battle, trial by, 50. 

Bautzen, battle of, 625 sg-. 

Bavaria, 64. Under Pepin the Short, 82. 
Charlemagne, 88. Revolts, 130. Given 
to Henry III., 155. Aggrandized, 563. 
Joins the Allies against Napoleon, 638. 
Enlarged, 663. Revolution of 1848 in, 
677. 

Bavarian dialect, 106. 

Bavarians, a German tribe, 5, 45 sqq., 54, 

73, etc. 

Bazaine, French marshal, 719 sqq. Driven 
into MeXz, 723, 725. Surrender of, 729 .S(j. 

Beatrice of Lorraine, 165. Marries Boni- 
face of Tuscany, ib. Godfrey of Lor- 
raine, 160. 

of Burgundy, wife of Barbarossa, 187, 

190. 



Beatrice, daughter of Philip of Suabia, 
wife of Otto IV., 203. 

Beaugency, battle of, 737. 

Beauharnais (see Eugene). 

Beanlieu, Austrian general, 557. 

Beaune la Rolande, battle of, 735, 737. 

Begga, sister of Grimoald, 69, 120. 

Behaim, Michael, minstrel, 325. 

Belgrade, siege of, 472 sq. Peace of, 473. 

Belisarins seiit to Africa, 50 sq. 

Belle Alliance, battle at, 659. 

Belle Isle, French general, 501. 

Bern, Hungarian general, 679. 

Benedek, Austrian commander, 696, 698. 

Benedetti, French minister, 715. 

Benedict IV., Pope, assassinated, 140. 

XII., Pope, 258. 

, St., of Nursia, founds the Benedict- 
ine order, 221. 

Beueveuto, duchy of, 84. Battle of, 210. 

Benningsen, Russian general, 578 sqq., 63^. 

Berengarius of Ivrea, 134, 137. 

Beresina, crossing of the, by Napoleon, 
614. 

Berlin, foundation of, 231. After the 
Thirty- Years' War, 449. The flue aris 
In, 675. 

Bernadotte, Prince of Sweden, 560, 610, 
028. Character of, 629. Conduct at Ber- 
lin, 631 sq. (see also 045). 

Bernard, grandson of Charlemagne, 100, 
120. Death of, 101. 

of Barcelona, 102. 

-^ — , St., of Clairvaux, preaches a cru- 
sade, 185. Joins the Cistercians, 222. 

of Saxony, son of Albert the Bear, 

194. 

, Duke of Weimar, 424, 427 sqq. Char- 
acter and death of, 431 sq. Before 
Louis XIII., 454. 

Berne, massacre of Jews at, 345. 

Bertha, mother of Charlemagne, 82. 

, wife of Henry IV., 165. 

Berthold, Count, in Suabia, 118. 

of Znhringeu, Duke of Carinthia, 162. 

, Archbishop of Mayence, 301, 304, 308. 

Bertrand, French general, 632. 

Bethleu Gabor, rebellion of, 464. 

Beust, Saxon minister, 693. Chancellor 
of Austria, 707. 

Bianca Lancia, wife of Frederick II., 210. 

Bible, Luther translates the, 369. 

Billing (see Hermann Billing). 

Bingen, origin of, 10. 

Bishop, office of, 90. Of Rome, 90 sq., lOS. 
In Italy, 109. 

Bishoprics established by Boniface, 76. 
By Charlemagne, 87. By Otto I., 132. 
The germs of cities, 224 sq. 

Bishops, named by the king, 124. By the 
duke, ib. German, as warriors, 160. 
Investiture of, 167 sq. As judges, 226. 
Robbers, 309. 

Bismarck, Otto von, Prussian minister. 
685, 689 sqq., 697. Chancellor of the 
Bund, 709 sq., 764. Warning of, to the 
clericals, 760, 771. 

Bittenfeld, Hcrwarth von, Prussian gen- 
eral, 688, 090. 

Black Death, the, in Europe, 263. Rav- 
ages of, 344 sq. 

" Black Guard," the, 315. 



ns 



BLENHEIM. 



INDEX. 



CAPIXnLARIES. 



Blenheim, battle of, 468. 

Bliicher, Prussian marshal, 555, 57G sq. 
Early life of, 592. Letter of, 597, 630. 
Victory of, 633 sq. Invades Prance, 648 
sqq., 657 sqq. 

BiJckelheim, the citadel of, prison of Hen- 
ry IV., 172. 

Biickh, philologist, 595. 

Bodeustein, Dr., 365 (see Carlstadt). 

Bodmar, Swiss poet, 545. 

Boethius, murdered by Theodoric, 45. 

Bogislaw XIV., Duke of Pomerauia, 422 
nq., 479. 

Biiheim, Hans, in Franconia, 349. 

Bohemia, seized by Moravia, 113. Re- 
stored to the empire, 114. Rebels, 129. 
Subdued, 147. Made a kingdom, 170, 
187. German colonies in, 232. Agita- 
tion after Huss's murder, 288. Revolts, 
284. Religious agitation in, 410. Per- 
secution of Protestants in, 413. 

Bohemian campaign of 1866, 697 sqq. 

custom, an ancient, 410. 

Boii, the tribe of, 45. 

Boisseree, the brothers, 596. 

Bojoarii {see Bavarians). 

Boleslaw Chrabry, King of Poland, 147. 
His death, 152. • 

Bombardment of Paris, 739 sq. 

Bonaparte (see Napoleon Bonaparte). 

Boniface, Margrave of Tuscany, 155. 

(Winfred), missionary bishop in Ger- 
many, 76 sq. Martyrdom of, 78. His 
plans followed up, 87, 301. 

, Roman governor in Africa, rebels, 

'VIII., Pope, 246. Death of, 248. De- 
position of, 277. 

IX., Pope, deposes Wenzel, 273 s^. 

Bonn, a Roman stronghold, 10. Univer- 
sity of, founded, 674. 

Books, copied, before the invention of 
printing, 351. 

Bornhuved, battle of, 314. 

Borodino, battle of, 614. 

Boso of Vienne, 109. 

Bougk', battle at, 59. 

Boufbaki, French general, 734, 740 sqq. 
Ruin of his army, 745 sq. 

Bourbon, the Constable de, 380. 

dynasty in Spain, 470. Restored in 

France, 653 sq. 

Bovines, battle of, 204. 

Brandenburg, Count, Prussian min58ter, 
682. 

Brandenbursr, germ of, 90. Colonies of, 
230 sq. Seized by Lewis IV., 259. Dis- 
orders in, 335 sq. Electors of, 407. 

Brandt, Sebastian, author of "The Ship 
of Fools," 325. 

Breitenfeld, battle at, 425. 

Breitinger, Swiss poet, 545. 

Bremen, bishopric of, S7. 

Brennabor, old name of Brandenburg, 126. 

Brentano, poet, 596. 

Brescia, 192. Arnold of, 252. 

Breslau, Treaty of, 502 sq. 

Brethren of the Sword, an order of 
knights, 223 sq. 

Bretislaw, Duke of Bohemia, 157. 

Britain, lost to Rome, 39. Anglo-Saxons 
in, 46. 



Britons, 39, 41. 

Brittany, subdued by Clovis, 59. Under 
native dukes, 82. 

Brixen, Bishop of. Pope Damasus II., 159. 

Broglie, French general, 520. 

Brook of the Burguudians, battle at the, 
103. 

Brown, Austrian general, 511 sqq. 

Bructeri, the tribe of, 10, 13, 31, 56. 

Briihl, prime-miuister of Saxony, 500, 
510 ■'iqq. 

Brun, the founder of Brunswick, 123. 

, son of Henry the Fowler, 135. 

Brunehilde, 61,64, 74. 

Bruno (see Gre^rory V., Pope). 

, Bishop of'Toul (see Leo IX., Pope). 

Brunswick (see Charles William Ferdi- 
nand). 

Brunswick -Bevern (see Ferdinand of; 
Elizabeth Christine of). 

Bucer, Martin, at the Regeusburg Confer- 
ence, 384. 

Bucharia (see Baceuis). 

Bull, the Golden, of Charles IV., 265. 

, the Pope's, burned by Luther, 366. 

Biilow, Frederick William von, Prussian 
general, 594, 621, 631 sq., 637 sq., 645. 

Burchard, Duke of Suabia, 124. 

, Duke of Thuringia, 116. 

Biirger, German poet, 546. 

Burgraves in the cities, 319. 

Burgsdorf, Colonel von, 479. 

Burguudians, a German tribe, 5, 11, 31, 
etc., 58, 103. 

Burgundy seized by the Franks, 63. King- 
dom of, 109 sq. Henry II. acquires, 147. 
Annexed to Germany, 154, 187. Duchy 
of, 295 .sg. 

Bute, Earl, British minister, 520, 528. 

Butler, Colonel, assassinates Walleustein, 
429. 

Buttmaun, philologist, 595. 



Cadoudal, George, conspirator, 566. 

Cffisar, C. Julius, enters Gaul, S. De- 
scribes the Germans, 9. 

Caietanus, Cardinal, 360. 

Calicaduus, Barbarossa drowned in the, 
196 sq. 

Caliph, the, of Bagdad, 98. 

, the, of Cordova, 137. 

Caliphs, the, 53. 

Calixtus 11., Pope, 176. 

III., Antipope, 193. 

Calvin, John, life and labors of, 396 sq. 

Calvinism, suppressed in the empire, 419. 

Calvinists in Germany, 401 sq. 

Cambray, League of, 309. 

, Peace of, 3S0. 

Camel, Sultan of Egypt, 206. 

Campeggio, Cardinal, papal legate, 376. 

Campo Formio, Peace of, 559. Renewed, 
562. 

Canossa, Henry IV. at, 109. 

Canrobert, French marshal, 716. Taken, 
730. 

Cantons, the Swiss, revolt from the Haps- 
burgs, 270. 

Canute the Dane, 127, 152 sq. 

, claimant of the Danish crown, 186. 

Capitularies of Charlemagne, 86, 94, 138. 



' ' C APITDL ATIONS. " 



INDEX. 



CHRISTOPHER. 



11^ 



"Capitulations," at the election of em- 
perors, 236, 362 sq. 

Caraccioli, papal legate at Worms, 36T. 

Caraffa, general of Leopold I., 465. 

Carbo, Papirins, a Roman consul, 5. 

Cardinals, the College of, 167. 

Carinthia divided by Henry III., 151. 

Carlomau, son of Louis the Stammerer, 
lOT. 

, son of Charles Martel, 71, 120. 

, son of Pepin, 82, 120. 

, son of Lewis the German, 107. 

Carlos, Don, son of Philip IL, 403. 

Carloviugian house, 106. Extinct, 111, 
116. Genealogy of, 120. 

Carlowitz, Treaty of, 466. 

"Carlsbad Resolutions" of the Diet, 671. 

Carlstadt (Dr. Bodenstein), supports Lu- 
ther, 360, 365, 370. 

Carnot, French minister of war, 555. 

Carrier-pigeons in the siege of Paris, 786. 

Carroccio, the, of Milan, 155. 

Carthage, capital of the Vandals, 38. 

Castelar, Spani^^h republican, 732. 

Castles in the Middle Ages, 219. 

Cataloniau lields, battle in, 41. 

Catharine von Bora, wife of Luther, 385. 
His widow, 387. 

Catharine L, Empress of Russia, romantic 
life of, 491 »q. 

IL, Empress of Russia, 523, 528, 538, 

541 sq., f,5i. 

Cathedrals in the cities, 227, 323 sq. 

Catholic creed and Arianism, 48, 55, 90. 
Of the Pranks, 91. 

Catholics in Prussia, 754. 

Caulincourt, French embassador, 651. 

Celibacy of the clergy enforced, 167. 

Celts, the, in Walesr41. 

Centenier, office of, 92 sg. 

Chamber of Justice, the imperial, .302 sq., 
305, 309. Removal of, 473 sq. Decline 
of, 534. 

" Chambers of Reunion," Louis XIV. 's, in 
Alsace and Lorraine, 460 sq. 

Chanzy, French general, 740. 

Charibert, King of the Franks, 64. 

Charlemagne (Charles the Great), 82 sq., 
85 sq. In Spain, 88. His dominion, 90 
sq. Character of, 95 sq. Labors, 96 sq. 
Person, 98. Death, 100. Foresight, 111 
sq. Family of, 120. Tomb of, opened, 
144. 

Charles Martel, d9 sqq., 75. Descendants 
of, 120. 

Charles, son of Charlemagne, 100, 120. 

the Bald, sou of Lewis the Pious, 102. 

the Pat, emperor, 107. Weakness of, 

109. Deposed, ib. Dies, 110. 

• the Simple, 107, 111. Annexes Lor- 
raine to France, 116, 124. 

■ ^f Anjou, 210. 

of Valois, 249. 

the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, 296 sq. 

Slain at Nancy, 298. 

, Archduke of Austria, 558, 568, 598, 

600. 

Augustus of Saxe- Weimar, 581, 594, 

671. 

Frederick, Duke of Baden, 532, 584. 

Theodore, Count Palatine, 534 sqq., 

559. Dies, 568. 



Charles Theodore of Dalberg, Elector of 
Mayence, 563. 

Charles of Zweibriicken, 535. 

of Brunswick, deposed, 672. 

of Bavaria, 702 sq. 

IV., son of John, King of Bohemia, 

259. Emperor, 260, 263. Character of, 
264 .s^. Decrees the Golden Bull, 266 .s^g. 
Dies, 268. {See. also 275, 288, 330, 345.) 

v., Emperor (Charles I. of Spain), 

subdues the Frisians, 313. Heritage of, 
361. Emperor, 362, 367. Character of, 
368. Plans of, 372. At the Regeusburg 
Conference, 384. In Italy, 387. Abso- 
lute, 391 sq. Abdicates and dies, 394. 

VI., Emperor, sou of Leopold I., 469 

sqq. Death of, 473, 497, 500. 

IX. of Prance, slaughters the Hugue- 
nots, 402. 

IX. of Sweden, 421. 

X. of Sweden, 457, 4S0 sq. 

■ XII. of Sweden, 4SS, 491 .s^. 

of Lorraine, general of Leopold I., 465. 

. — — of Lorraine, general of Maria Theresa, 
502, 513, 516. 

II. of Spain, 466 sq. 

■ Albert, Elector of Bavaria (Charles 

Vll.), 499 sqq., 503 sqq. 

Augustus of Weimar, 529, 547. 

Eugene of Wirtemberg, 532. 

— — William Ferdinand of Brunswick, 520, 
539,540,552sg.,574sf/. Dies, 581. (SeebSb.) 

Charlotte, Princess of England, 654. 

Chassepot rifle, 714. 

Chasteler, Austrian general, 602 sq. 

Chatham, Earl of, British minister, 517. 

Chatillon, Peace Congress of, 651 sq. 

Chatti, the tribe of, 10, 13 sqq., 31, 56. 

Chauci, the tribe of, 10. 

Chaumont, alliance of, 651. 

Cherusci, 10 sqq., 31. 

Chiesi, destroyed by Barbarossa, 189. 

Chigi, papal legate, 436. 

Childebert, son of Clovis, 61, 63. 

III., son of Grimoald, 69, 120. 

Childeric, King of the Franks, 57. 

Chilperic, 61, 64. 

Chlodomir {see Clodomir). 

Chlothaire {see Clothaire). 

Chotusitz, battle of, 502. 

Christian, Archbishop of Mayence, 193. 

• of Oliva, missionary, 232. 

I. of Denmark, 314. 

IV. of Denmark, 414, 416 sqq. 

of Anhalt, 411 sq. 

of Brunswick, Archbishop of Halber- 

stadt^tesg.,439. 

Vlfflpof Denmark, 680. 

IX. of Gliicksburg, heir of Denmark, 

681. King, 686. 

Christianity among the early Germans, 23, 
31 sq. Christian nations formed, 37, 49. 
Value of, 72 sq. A badge of subjection, 
75. Corrupt, 78 sq. In Saxony, 86 sq. 
Among the Danes, 127, 145. The Wends, 
131 sq., 232. Perversions of, 348. 

Christina, daughter of GustavusAdolphns, 
425, 428. Queen of Sweden, 4.57. Abdi- 
cates, 480. 

Christopher of Grimmelshausen describes 
a scene of plunder, 441 sq. 

Christopher of Wirtemberg, 392. 



780 



CHURCH. 



INDEX. 



CONTINENTAL. 



Church, the, among the Fi'anks, 66. Its 
iutluence ou culuire, 68, 73, T7. Tithes 
paid to, ST. Organization of, 89. Of 
Rome, 90 sq. Estates of, 97. The em- 
pire independent of, 123 sq. Strength- 
ened by Heni-y III., 157 sq. Giowlh of, 
177. In the Middle Ages, '^12. Degener- 
acy of, 313. Learning in, 349, 352. Be- 
fore the Reformation, 3.56 s^. The Sax- 
on, 879. Of Rome, in Germany, struggle 
with, 754 sqq. Position of, 758 sq. 

, a German Catholic, 530. Of the Old 

Catholics, 764. 

Churches, national Protestant, formed, 378 
sqq. 

Churchill, John {see Marlborough). 

Cimbri, the tribe of, 5 sq. 

"Cimbrian panic," the, 5. 

Circles of justice, 270, 289, 306 sqq. 

Cisalpine Republic, created, 559. 

Cistercian order of monks, 222. 

Cities, grew around episcopal sees, 87. 
Support the crown, 165, 207. Of North- 
ern Italy, 188, 190 .s^. Origin and growth 
of, 224 sqq. Trade of, 227 sqq. As states 
of yie empire, 236. Mortgaged for mon- 
ey, 267 sg. Wars of. 269 s<^., 293,331. In 
the Diets, 303. In the 13th century, 318 
sqq. Described by .^neas Silvius, 823 
sqq. Associations of, 826 S717., 330. sg'. In 
the Thirty-Years' War, 448 sq. Free, of 
the empire, 563. Of Prussia, reconsti- 
tuted, 588. Free, of the empire, after 
Waterloo, 664. Growth of, 675 sq. 

Citizens, condition of, in the Middle Ages, 
217. After 1S15, 675. 

City, a German, under the Frank emper- 
ors, 225. 

Civilization of the Germans in the time 
of Tacitus, 22. Of the great migrations, 
47. In Liv(mia and Esthonia, 232. {See 
Chap. XIV. and XV. throughout.) 

Civitate, battle of, 160. 

Clairfait, Austrian general, 557. 

Claudius Civilis, heads revolt of the Bata- 
VI, 15. 

Clausewitz, General, 615. 

Clement I., Pope, 108. 

II., Pope, appointed by Henry III., 

159. 

, Antipope, 170 sq. 

v., Pope, 249, 252. 

VI., Pope, bans Lewis IV., 260. Pro- 
tects the Jews, 34.5. Excommunicates 
the Flagellants. 347. 

VII., Pope, attacks the Reformers, 376. 

Besieged, 880. Dies, 884. g^ 

XIV., Pope, abolishes thei^^uit or- 
der, 76a 

Wenceslaus, Archbishop of Treves,532. 

Clergy, the, vassals of the crown, 93. 
Against Otto L, 131. Morals of, 134, 
148, 343, 357. 

Clerical party in Prussia, 753 sq. In the 
Diet of the empire, 761 sq. 

Clermont, French general, 517. 

Clermont, Council of, 214. 

Clodomir, son of Clovis, 61, 63. 

Closter-Zeven, Convention of, 515, 517. 

Clothaire I., son of Clovis, 61, 63. Unites 
the Franks, 64. 

IL, sou of Chilperic, 61, 64. 



Clothilde, wife of Clovis, 58. Cruelty of, 
63. 

Clovis, 45, 57. Marries Clothilde, 58. Be- 
comes a Christian, ib. sq. Extent of his 
conquests, 61. 

Cluny, religious revival at, 158. Congie- 
gation of, 171. 

Coalition against France, the first, 554 sq. 
The second, 560 sqq. The third, 567 sqq. 
The tifth, 629 sqq. 

Coblentz, Henry IV. at, 172. 

Code Napoleon, the, 583. 

Colmar, the Field of Lies at, 102. 

Cologne, origin of, 10, 224. Insurrection 
at, 10. Massacre of the Jews in, 345 sq. 

Colonies of Brandenburg, 2.30 sq. Of Pom- 
erauia and Mecklenburg, 231 sq. 

Colonization by Germans, 47 sq. By Char- 
lemagne, 86, 89. By Henry I., 128. Of 
Sclavonic lands, 149, 229 .fq'q., 530. 

Columban, St., missionary, 74. 

Commodus, Emperor, 29. 

Commune, the, in Paris, declared and sup- 
pressed, 736. 

"Compensations and Indemnities" of 
1803, 563. 

Compurgators, or jurors, 50. 

Concordat of Worms, 177. 

Coude, French general, 434, 460. 

Confederation of the Swiss cantons, 270. 

, the German, of 1815, 665. Diet of, 

GGii sq. Difficulties of, 667 sq. Federal 
execution by, in Holstein, 686. Dis- 
solved by Prussia, 692 sqq. Austria vvilh- 
diaws from, 701. 

Confession, auricular, introduced, 848. 

of faith, .381. In Austria, 403. 

Congress of Vienna (see Vienna). 

Conrad, founds Upper Burgundy, 110. 

. ■ I. of Franconia, Emperor, 117 sq. 

Death of, 119, 123. 

II., 127. Emperor, 151 sqq. 

III. of Hohenstanfen, 180. Rebels, 

181 .sq-. Emperor, 183 sq. Dies, 186. 

IV., s(m of Frederick II., 207. Death 

of, 209, 238. 

, sou of Henry IV., rebellion of, 172. 

the younger, 151 sqq. 

of LorraiVie, 131, 184 sq. Slain, 136. 

of Marburg, inquisitor, 216, 232. 

Tors, inquisitor, 216. 

the monk, minstrel, 220. 

. of Massovia, 232. 

Conradin, son of Conrad IV., 210. Death 
of, 211. Songs of, 220. 

Conradini, ducal house of, 151. 

Constance, Diet at, 157. Peace of, 194. 
Geueral Council of, 27S, 280 sqq. 

Constance, daughter of William II. of Sic- 
ily, marries Henry VI., 196, 198, 200. 

of Aragon, wife of Frederick IL, 208, 

205. • 

, daughter of Manfred, 211. 

Constantinople, seat of the empire, 44. 

Constitution promulgated in Prussia, 678. 

of society among the early Germans, 

19. Of the empire, 265 sq., 302 sqq. 

Constitutional struggle in Prussia, 684 sq., 
771. Indemnity voted to the govern- 
ment, 705. 

Coutarini, Cardinal, papal legate, 384. 

Continental system of Napoleou, 578. 



CONVENTION. 



INDEX. 



ECK. 



781 



Adopted by Russia, 585. Oppressive- 
ness of, G09 sqq. 

Couventiou, the National, of France, 
makes peace, 746 sq. 

Conversion of Clovis and his Franks, 5S. 

Corday, Charlotte, 554. 

Costnitz, Diet at, 308. 

Council, general, of the Church, 208, 278, 
281 nqq., 285, 289 sq., 348. Lullier's need 
of, 305. Of Trent, 388. Of the Vatican, 
called, 707, 758. Constitution of, 759 sq. 
Adjourned, 760. 

, Imperial, established, 3(16. Powers 

of, 307. Government by, 379. 

Count, office of, 92 sq. 

Palatine, office of, 131. 

Courbiere, General de, 579. 

Courts of the princes, 453, 531. 

Cranach, Lucas, painter, 385. 

Crecy, battle of, 260 sq. 

Crefeld, battle of, 517. 

Crema, insurrection at, 191. 

Cromieux, French minister, 727. 

Cremona, 192. 

Crescentius revolts against Otto III., 143. 

Crespy, Peace of, in 1544, 387. 

Crest of the Prince of Wales, 261. 

Crown, the iron, of Lombardy, 54, 147. 
The imperial, 91, 130, 147. 

Crown-jewels of the empire, 145. 

Cruelties of soldiers in the Thirty-Years' 
War, 441. 

Crusade, the first, preached, 171. The sec- 
ond, 185 sq. The Crusades, sketch of, 
213 sqq. Summary of, 215, note. 

Cumberland, Duke of, English general, 
515, 517. 

Cunigunda, wife of Henry II., 147. 

Cup, the sacred, the banner of the Huss- 
ites, 283. 

Custine, French general, 554. 

Custozza, battle of, 700. 

Czechs, the Sclavonic tribe of, 89. 

Czernichef, Russian general, 521, 523, 633, 
639. 

D. 

Dagobert, King of the Franks, 04. 
Dall)erg, Grand-Duke of Frankfort, 609. 
Daleminzii, the Sclavonic tribe of, 120. 
Daniasus I., Pope, 108. 

II., Pope, 159. 

Danes, heathenism of the, 85. Conversion 

of, 152. 
Danish crown given to Sweyn,186. 
Dante welcomes Henry VII. to Italy, 252. 
Danton, revolutionary leader, 549. 
Danube, the valley of the, occupied by 

Germans, 233. 
Dauu, Austrian general, 514 sg^., 518 sq., 

5-Jl sq. 
Davoust, French marshal, 570, 623, 633. 
Decretals of Isidore, the forged, 107 sqq. 
Deniiewitz, battle of, 637 sq. 
Deodatus usurps the crown of Italy, 51. 
Deputation, the imperial, for indemnities, 

562 sqq. 
Derffliui;, Marshal, 479. 
Desaix, French general, 562. 
Desiderata, wife of Charlemagne, 82 sq. 
Desiderius, King of the Lombards, 82 sq., 

88. 



Dessau, battle at the bridge of, 418. 

Dessauer, the Old (see Leopold of Dessau). 

D'Estrees, French general, 515. 

Detmold, battle at, 86. 

Dettingeu, battle of, 503. 

Deutschbrod, battle of, 284. 

Deutsche, the name, 5, 105, 114, 131. 

Dialect of the Franks, 104 ■•iqq. 

Diebitsch, Russian general, 015. 

Diet of the empire, constitution of, 30.9. 

Meetings of, 138, 148, 157, 170, 176, 292, 

302, 305, 309, 367, 376. Made permanent, 

474. The first, of the German Empire, 

753. 

of Prussia assembles, 676. 

Diether, Archbishop of Mayence, deposed, 

301. 
Dietrich the Strong, of Berne, 47, 200. 

Song of, 341. 

, Archbishop of Cologne, 294. 

Dijt)U, battle at, 59. 
Dikes of the Frisians, 75. 
Dispensations sold by the clergy, 319. 
Diihmarshers, the, 311 sqq. 
Doctrines of the Roman Church, 356 sq. 
Diifflngen, battle at, 270. 
Dpges, the, of Venice, 54. 
Dohna, General, 519. 

■ , Prussian minister, 008, 017. 

DoUinger, Dr., theologian, 759, 702. 
Domains, the royal, 133. 
Domingo, St., of Spain, 222. 
Dominican order of monks, 222. 
Douar (Donner, Thor), a god of the early 

Germans, 23, 76. 
Donay, priest, betrays Hofer, 604. 
Doruberg, adventures of, 605. 
Dorothea of Holsteiu, wife of the Great 

Elector, 487. 
Donay, General, fall of, 718. 
Drahomira, wife of Wratislaw, 126. 
Dresden, Peace of, 504. 
Dress in the fifteenth century, 333, 342. 

In the si.Kteenth, 444. In the seven- 
teenth, 445. 
Dreysa invents the needle-gun, 698. 
Drusus, step-son of Augustus, 11 sq. 
Ducrot, French general, 737. 
Dukes of the early Germans, 20, 22, 114. 

Vassals of the king, 128, 149. States of 

the empire, 236. 
Dumouriez, French general and minister, 

553 sq. 
Diippel fortifications, the, taken by the 

Prussians, 687 sq. 
Dyle, battle of the, 113. 
"DynMltes," how formed, 217. 'In the 

citiepRo. 

E. 

East Franks, the kingdom of the, 106 sq. 
East Goths (Ostrogoths), the tribe and 

kingdom of the, 30, 34 .s.;., 40 sq., 52. 
Easter festival of Charlemagne at Rome, 83. 
Eastern Empire, the, 36, 44, 50. 
Eastphalians, the, 85. 
Eberhard, brother of Conrad I., 119, 130 sq. 

, Duke of Bavaria, 130. 

{see Everard). 

Ecclesiastical reservation, the, 394, 419. 
Eck, Dr. John, opposes Luther, 359, 364 

sq., and Melanehthon, 381, 384. 



V82 



ECKART. 



INDEX. 



FESTIVALS. 



Eckart of Meissen, claims the throne, 145. 

Eckraiihl, battle of, 59S sq. 

Eddas, the, 24. And the German heathen 
religion, 26. 

Edeliuirs, or noblemen, 18. 

Edict of Nantes, revocation of, 461. 

of Restitution, by Ferdinand II., 419. 

Suspended in Saxony, 430. Revoked, 436. 

Editha, wife of Otto I., 126. 

Education fostered by Charlemagne, 97. 

Edward, the Black Prince, at Crecy, 261. 

Egbert, King of the Anglo-Saxons, 112. 

Eger, Diets at, 2T0, 2T2, 331. 

Egiuhard (see Einhard). 

Egmont, Count, 400. 

Egon, Bishop of Piirstenberg, betrays 
Strasburg, 461. 

Eileke, sister of Wulf hild, ISl. 

Einhard, historian of Charlemagne, 98. 

Eisleben, Luther born at, 358. 

Elba, Napoleon banished to, 653. 

Election of kings, 06, etc. Regulated by 
the Golden Bull, 265 sqq. 

Elector, the Great (see Frederick William 
of Brandenburg). 

Electors of the empire, 181, 235 sq. Their 
league at Reuse, 25S, 203. Designated, 
260. Dignities and privileges of, 267, 
301, 304 '(«ee 407 sq). Number of, in- 
creased, 563. 

Elizabeth of England, wife of Frederick 
v., 411. 

, Queen of England, 401, 451. 

, St., of Hungary, 216. 

, daughter of Wenzel III., 251. 

, daughter of Sigismund, 285. 

, Empress of Russia, 507, 514. Death 

of, 523. 

Charlotte, of the Palatinate, 462. 

Christine, of Brunswick-Beveru, 496. 

Emanuel of Froben, heroism of, 483. 

Emigrants, the French, in the Revolution, 
55i. 

Emmeran, St., missionary, 74. 

Emmerich of Tockely, rebellion of, 464. 

Joseph, Archbishop of Mayence, 532. 

Emperor, title of, 91 sq., 308. 

Empire, and the Church, 91. The Roman, 
revived, ib., 122. Civil order of, 92 sq. 
First division of, 101. Second, 103. Be- 
ginnings of the Russian, 113. The Ger- 
man, 128. Conception of, 144 sq., 317. 
Disintegration of, 2T5, 294, 303. Effect 
upon the,of the Peaceof Westphalia, 437. 
The German, destroyed, 564. Formally 
broken up, 573. Could not be restored, 
644 sqq. The new Germa^ Chap. 
XXX VI., 748.975'. Constitutiofil, \msq. 

Encyclical Letter of Pius IX., 7577 

Eughien, the Duke d', 560. 

Enzio, son of Frederick II., 208. 

Eperies, "butcher's bench" of, 465. 

Equestrian order, the, 2l7 (sec Knights). 

Erchauger, Count, in Suabia, 118. 

Ermenerich (Hermanric), King of the East 
Goths, 30, 34. 

Ernest of Bavaria, Archbishop of Cologne, 
404, 406. 

of Liineburg, 392. 

of Mansfeld, 412 sq.^ 415, 417 sq., 439. 

of Saxony, son of Frederick the Gen- 
tle, 293 sq. 



Ernest of Suabia, 152 .sgg. 

• the Pious, of Gotha, 454. 

, Archduke of Austria, 696. 

Augustus of Hanover, tirst Elector, 

474. 

• Augustus, King of Hanover, 673. 

Estates (see States). 

Esterhazy, Prince, 521. 

Esthouia, colonized by Germans, 232. 

Ethelbert, King of the Anglo-Saxons, 74. 

Etzel (see Attila). 

Eudes, 109 (nee Odo). 

Eugeue III., Pope, 185, 188. 

IV., Pope, and the Council of Basle, 

290. Innovations of, 348. 
■ •, Prince, of Savoy, general of Leo- 
pold L, 466 sqq. Death of, 473. (See 488, 

493,497,545.) 
Beauharnais, vice-king, 507. King of 

Northern Italy, 5S5. Defeated at Sacile, 

599. Grand-Duke, 609. 
Eugene of Wirtemberg, Prince, 577, 630. 
Eugenie, Empress of Prance, 716, 723, 727. 
Eulenspiegel, Till, clown, 340. 
Evangelical Union in Prussia, 674. 
Everard, Count of Wirtemberg, 241 sq., 

249 251 270 272. 

, the tirst Duke of Wirtemberg, 302. 

the Grinner, 331, 336. 

"with the Beard," 364. 

the Wise, 354. 

(.see Eberhard). 

Exarchate of Ravenna, 53. Includes Rome, 

71 sq. 
Excommunication, the Greater, 706. 
Eylau, battle of, 579. 
Ezzeliuo of Romano, 208. 

P. 

Faidherbes, French general, 738, 740,743 sq. 

Faith not to be kept with heretics, 283. 

Falk, Prussian minister, 765. Laws of, 768. 

Falkenstein, Vogel von, Prussian general, 
693, 702 sq., 711. 

Falrin, Peace of, 492. 

Family feuds among the early Germans, 
20. In the house of Lewis the Pious, 
102 sq., 107. 

Fanatics, preaching of, 144. 

Fashions in the Middle Ages, 342. 

Faust, John, of Mayence, 351. 

Pavre, Jules, French statesman, 727. 

Fehrbellin, battle of, 483. 

Felix v.. Pope, 290. 

Feme, "the Holy," in Westphalia, 347. 

Ferdinand L, brother of Charles V., 364, 
376. King of Bohemia, 379. Of the Ro- 
mans, 382, 388, 393. Emperor, 394. Reign 
of, 402, 463. 

II., Archduke of Styria, 406, 410. 

Emperor, 411. In the religious wars, 413 
sqq. Dies, 432. 

III., son of Ferdinand II., 420. As 

general, 429 sq. Emperor, 432, 458. 

I. of Austria, son of Frauds I. (II. 

of the empire), 008. Abdicates, 678. 

of Brunswick-Bevern, 513 sq., 516 sq., 

520, 523, 524. 
Fere Champeuoise, battle at, 653. 
Permor, Russian general, .518. 
Festivals, in the cities, 322 sq. At courts, 

335. 



FEUDAL SYSTEM. 



INDEX. 



FREEDOM. 



■83 



Feudal system, origin of the, 21, 65, 106. 

Extended to Italy, 84. Rejected by the 

Saxons, 87. Under Charlemagne, 93 nq. 

Weakness of, 116. Prevalence of, 133. 

Effect on the empire, 236 sq. Burdens 

of, 304. 
Feuds, fiefs or fees, 65. Hereditary in 

France, 148. In Europe, ITS. 
Fichte, John Gottlieb, philosopher, 594 sq. 
Fiefs, granted by lords paramount, 65. 

Hereditary, I'S. 
Fiesole, battle at, 36. 
Final Act of the German Confederate 

States at Vienna, 671. 
Finck, Prussian minister, 513, 520. 
Fines for crimes, 50. 
Fischart, satirist, 444. 
Flagellants, the sect of, 346 sq. 
Fleurus, battle of, 556. 
Fouteuay (Fontenailles), 103. Battle of, 

506. 
Fools, court, 341 sq. 
Fouquet, general of Frederick II., 521. 
Forests, the German, in the Middle Ages, 

334 sq. 
Forster, George, of Mayence, mission of, 

554. 
Fortifications of cities in the Middle Ages, 

321. 
Fortresses of Charlemagne, 90. Of Henry 

the Fowler, 125. 
Fournier, French general, 631. 
Fox, Charles James, British minister, 573, 
France at the head of Europe, 457. 
Francis I., King of France, 298,361. Taken 

prisoner by Charles V., 380. 
Francis of Assisi, St., founds the Francis- 
can order, 222. 
— — of Sickingen supports Luther, 866 sq. 

Errors and death of, 272 sq. 
I. (Stephen), of Lorraine, husband of 

Maria Theresa, 473, 493. Emperor, 505, 

534. Labors, 533. 
II., Emperor (I. of Austria), 551, 556. 

Changes his title, 566 {see also 569 si]). 

Abdicates, 573. War of, in the Tyrol, 

601 sqq. Dies, 668. 

Lewis, Bishop of Bamberg, 532. 

Franf iscan order of monks, 222. Perse- 
cuted by the pope, 256, 258. 
Francouian dynasty, the, 177 sq. 
Francke, Hermann August, of Halle, 476, 

489. 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Diets at, 205, 258, 

292. Stormed, 554. Proclamation of, 

648. National Parliament at, 677 sq. 

Congress of, 685 .'.5. Peace of 1871 at, 747. 
Frankish dialect, 106. 
Franks, the tribe of, 31, 39, 41, 46, etc. 

Character of, 56 sq. Organization of 

their kiugdom, 66, etc. 
Frausecki, Prussian general, 711. 
Fredegonda, 61. Divorced by Chilperic 

and'kills him, 64. 
Frederick, Archbishop of Mayence, 131, 

134 sq. 
of Hoheustaufen, Duke of Suabia,170, 

180, 182. 
of Meissen," the Quarrelsome," hum- 
bled by Frederick II., 207, 293. 

of Meissen, "the Gentle," 293. 

the Victorious, Count Palatine, 294. 



Frederick III., Elector Palatine, 382. Sub- 
mits to Charles V., 389. 

IV., Count Palatine, 407 sq. 

v., Count Palatine, anti-king, 411 sqq., 

414. . 

of Augustenburg, 686, 689. 

, Prince of Austria, 210. Death of, 211. 

of Austria, " of the empty pocket," 

280, 289. 

of Saxony, " the Wise," 302, 358, 360, 

362. Regent, 366. Death of, 378. 

•, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, 314. 

of Sicily, ally of Henry VII., 252. 

III. of Hohenzollern, Burgrave of 

Nuremberg, 239, 288. 

IV. of Hohenzollern, Count of Nu- 
remberg, 256, 288, 336. 

Vl.of Hohenzollern, Count of Nurem- 
berg, 276. A candidate for the crown, 
287 sq. Quarrels with Sigismund, 285. 

IV. of Denmark, 488. 

I., King of Wirtemberg, 584, 646. 

VII. of Deumark, 680. Death of, 686. 

I. (III. of Brandenburg), 475, 486 sqq. 

Becomes king, 4S8. Dies, 489. 

. II. (the Great), King of Prussia, 495. 

Early life of, ib. sqq. Reign of. Chap. 
XXII. and XXIIL Invades Silesia, 499. 
Government of, 507, 520 sqq., 538 sq. 
Dies, 540. {See also 545.) 

the Fair, son of Albert of Austria, 

251, 253 sq. Anti-king, 257. Associate 
emperor, 257. 

, son of Barbarossa, dies, 197. 

I., Emperor (Barbarossa), 186 ■'iqq. In 

Rome, 189 sqq. Death of, 196 .sg'. 

U., Emperor, son of Henry VI., 200, 

203. Character of, 204. Crusade of, 206. 
In Italy, 207 sqq. Court of, 215. The 
empire at his death, 235. 

HI., Emperor, of Styria, elected, 290 

sq. Character of, 291 S5., 296 sj. Death 
of, 300. {See 529.) 

Augustus of Saxony, 532, 623. 

. of Saxony (.see August II., the Strong). 

. Charles, Prince of Prussia, 696 syy., 

708, 716, 722, 729, 735. 

Prancis,Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg, 

703 .sg., 709, 734. 

Henry, son of William of Orange, 479. 

William of Brandenburg, " the Great 

Elector," 425, 433, 435, 459 .s^. Acces- 
sion of, 478. Early life of, ib. sq. Wars 
o{,iS2 sqq. Dies, 486. Character of, rt..';?. 

Frederick William I., King of Prussia, 489 
sqq. Dies, 494, 497. 

— II., King of Prussia, 540. Reign 

of, ib. sqq. Dies, 544. {See 552, 570.) 

III., King of Prussia, 544, .567 sqq., 

570 sqq. , 586 sqq., 618 sqq. For peace, 649. 
Government of, 673 sq. Dies, 676. 

IV., Kinar of Prussia, 676 87., 678. 

Plans of, 681. Illness of, 688. Death of, 
684. {See also 750 sq.) 

of Brunswick-Oels, 605. Cam- 
paign of, against Napoleon, 606 sjq. 
Joins Wellington, 656. Pall of, 658. 

, Elector of Hesse, 093. 

, Crown- Prince of Prussia, 096 

sqq. Victory of, 700 s/., 708, 717 sq. 

Freedmen, standing of, 20. 

Freedom of the Saxons, 123. Of belief. 



784 



FREEMEN. 



INDEX. 



GITSCHIN. 



claimed bv Luther, 381. Extorted from 
Rudolph il., 404. In Huufr:iry,4G4. Of 
the press attacked by the Diet, 671. 

Freemen choose to become vassaLs, 07, 94. 
Levy of, 93, 125. And feudalism, 133. 

"Freeshooters" in the War of 1870, 732. 

Freia, a goddess of the early Germans, 26. 

French language, origin of the, 105. Cul- 
tivated by Frederick II., 506. 

Revolution, causes and approach of, 

548 sqq. 

Fridoliu, St., a missionary, 74. 

Friedland, battle of, 580. 

Frieslaud, rescued from the sea, 310 sq. 

Frisians, struggles of the, for liberty, 310 
sqq. The North, ib. 

Frisii, the tribe of, 10 »q., 15, 31, etc. Mis- 
sionaries among, 75 sq., 78. Subdued 
by Charlemagne, 87 sq. 

Fritigern, a king of the West Goths, 35. 

Fritz, Old, 540. (See Frederick II., the 
Great.) 

Frossard, French general, 719. 

Fugger, merchant in Augsburg, 451. 

" Fuggerei," or usury, 451. 

Fulda, conferences of Catholic bishops at, 
759, 761, 706. 

Fiirstenberg, Archbishop of Miinster, 532. 

G. 

Gablentz, Austrian general, 687, 692, 690, 

699 sq. 
Gageru, Baron,. at Vienna, 664. 
Gaieazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, 274. 
Galeswinlha, wife of Chilperic, 64. 
Gallas, general of Ferdinand II., 429 sq., 

433. 
Gallus, St., founds the Monastery of St. 

Gall, T4. 
Gambetta, French political leader, 727, 732 

sqq. 
Gamelsdorf, battle at, 54. 
Gaueloii, treason of, 88. 
Giinsefleisch, the family of, 351. 
Garibald, Duke of the Bavarians, 54. 
Garibaldi, Italian general, 732. 
Gastein Convention, the, 690 sqq. 
Gaul, Roman province of, 89. 
Geiler, Jolin, preacher in Strasburg, 349. 
Gelasius, Pope, 176. 
Gelimer, King of the Vandals, 51. 
Gellert of Leipsic, poet, 545. 
Genealogy, of the family of Clovis, 61. Of 

the Hapsburgs, 310. 
Geneva, the Reformation in, ,369 sq. 
Genghis Khan's successors, 209. 
Genseric, King of the Vandals, 38, 40. 

Sacks Rome, 43. 
Gentz, Austrian poet, 598. 
George, Margrave of Anspach, 381. 

, Duke of Saxony, 813, 365, 375, 383. 

of Brunswick-Liineburg, 428, 431. 

1., of Hanover, King of England, 474 

sq., 492. 
. II., King of England, 503. Death of, 

520. 

. III., King of England, 573. 

— v.. King of Uanover, 693. Captured, 

695. 

■ the Pious of Brandenburg, 478. 

Frederick of Baden-Durhich, 415. 

Podiebrad, King of Bohemia, 202, 295. 



George William, Elector of Brandenburg, 
414",4'28. Dies, 433. In the great war, 478. 

Gepidie, 80, 30, 40 sqq. 

Gerard, Duke of Schleswig, 314. 

the Great, Count of Holstein, 314. 

, Paul, hyrau-vvriter, 447. 

Truchsess, Archbishop of Cologne, 

404. 

Gerberga, wife of Giselbert, 124. 

Gerbert, Bishop of Rheiras, 143. (See Syl- 
vester II., Pope.) 

Gerhard of P;pi)enstein, Archbishop of 
Mayence, 243 sqq., 247. 

German, the word, 5. Applied to the na- 
tion, 131. 

civilization, ancient, 22. During the 

great migrations, 47. Under the Franks, 
68. During the 14th and 151h centuries, 
Chap. XIV., p. 317 sqq.. Chap. XV., p. 
333 .tqq. 

Confederation of 1815, &(i5 sqq. Fail- 
ure of, 691 sqq. Dissolved, 092. (See 
North German Bund.) 

history, unity of, 2. Influence of Char- 
lemagne in, 95. In the 14th and 15th 
centuries, 810. 

- — language, 3. Capacity of, 22. A 
bond of union, 46 sq. Cultivated, 97. In 
France, 105. Branches of the, 106. Ele- 
vated by Klopstock, 545. Political pow- 
er of, 74S sq. 

order of knights, 223. In Prussia, 232. 

Prosperity of, 386 sqq. Territory of, 529. 

race, the, origin and distribution of, 

2 sq. In Europe, 4. Characteristics of, 
1, 20, 22, 20, 287, 854. Holds Western 
Europe, 40. In Italy, 55. 

tribes, 4, 9. (.*e the names of the sev- 
eral tribes.) 

Germanic Confederation, under Napo- 
leon, 570. 

Germanicus, son of Drusus, 13 sq. 

Germanii, named by Herodotus, 3. 

Germans, the early, described by Plutarch, 
5 sq. By Csesar, 9. By Tacitus, 10 sq. 
Social system of, 18, 21. Laws of, 19, 49. 
Customs of, 20. Religion of, 23 sq., 68, 
73 sqq., 78 sq. 

Germany, carved from the empire, 104. 
Divided, 107. Into many petty states, 
355 sq., 494. National unity of, 544 sq. 
United against Napoleon, 647 sqq. Re- 
constituted after Waterloo, 604 sq. In 
1848, 077. Civil War of 1860 in. Chap. 
XXXIII. Changes in, during this cent- 
ury, 748. Becomes a nation, 749 sqq. 
Relations of, to other nations, 772 sq. 

Gero, Margrave of Saxony, 131. 

Gertrude, sister of Grimoald, 09, 120. 

of Saxony, daughter of Lothaire, 181, 

184. 

Gervinus, Professor, banished, 673. 

Gessler, governor in Switzerland, 270. 

, general of Frederick II., 504. 

Gibbon, historian, quoted, 04S. 

Girard, French general, 033. 

Girls, education of, at court, 218 sq. 

Girondists, the, in France, 549. 

Gisela, wife of Conrad IL, 153. 

, wife of Rolla, 112, 120. 

Giselbert, Duke of Lorraine, 124, 130 sqq. 

Gitscliiii, battle of, 697. 



GLEIM. 



INDEX. 



HKNRT I. 



785 



Gleini, poet, 546. 

Gloucejtei-, Duke of, meets Sigismund, 279. 

Gneiseii;in, NeitharcU of, Prussian gener- 
al, 579, 592 sq. At Waterloo, 660. 

GOben, Prussian general, 693, 702, 711, 716, 
739. 

Godegisel, King of the Burguiidians, 5S. 

Godeinan, slain, 5S. 

Godeniar, King of the Burgundians, 68. 

Godfrey of Boulogne, 170 sq., 214. 

of the Long Beard, sou of Gozelo, 

159 sq. 

of Strasburg, minstrel, 220. 

Godschalk, Prince of the Wends, 164. 

Goethe, John Wolfgang von, poet, 546 sq., 
.•594. His high position, 596, 612. 

Golden Bull, the, of Charles IV., 265 sq. 

Gollheim, battle at, 245. 

Gorgey, Magyar general, 679. 

Gonn, King of Denmark, 127. 

Goslar, Henry III. at, 157. Fight in the 
cathedral at, 163. Diet at, ISS. 

Gothic architecture in Germany, 227. 

Bible, the, 32. 

Gothones, the tribe of, 32. 

Goths, the tribe of, 29, 35, 37, 38, 51. (See 
East Goths, West Goths.) 

Gottsched of Leipsic, poet, 545. 

Giitz of Berlichingeu, " with the Iron 
Hand," 374. 

, general of Ferdinand II., 430. 

Gozelo, Duke of Lorraine, 156, 159. 

Grammont, Due de, French minister, 714*5. 

Grauson, the castle of, besieged, 297. 

Gratien, Dutch general, 607 sq. 

Gravelotte, battle of, 721 sq. 

Grawert, Prussian general, 613. 

Greek, the language, studied by Charle- 
magne, 97. 

revolution of 1S21, 670. 

Greeks, the, in Italy, 53, 109, 140, 14S. 

Gregory, Bishop of Tours, 60, 62. 

the Great, Pope, 54, 74, 91. 

v.. Pope, 143. 

VI., Pope, deposed, 159. 

VII., Pope, 167. {See Hildebrand.) 

VIII., Antipope, 176. 

IX., Pope, 205 sqq. Dies, 208. 

X., Pope, 239, 241. 

XVI., Pope, 755. 

Grenville, Lord, British minister, 573. 

Grimm, the brothers, Jacob and William, 
595. Banished, 673. 

Grimm's Sagen, cited, 84. 

Grimoald, son of Pepin, 69, 120. 

Grimwald, King of the Lombards, 55. 

Gronsfeld, General, 440. 

Gropper, Dr., at the Regeusburg confer- 
ence, 384. 

Grossbeeren, battle of, 631 sq. 

Gross-Jiigersdorf, battle of, 514. 

Grouchy, French general, 658. 

Grumbach affair, the, 405 sq. 

Grumkow, Field-marshal, of Prussia, 490, 
496. 

Guebriant, French general, 433. 

Guelph and Ghibelline, 208, 254. {See Welf 
and Waiblingen.) 

Gnelphs, house of, 181. 

Guilds of workmen, 226, 332. Rules of the, 
340. Oppressive, 587. 

Guudahar, kingdom of, 46. 
E E E 



Gundobald, King of the Burgundians, 58 

sq. Dies, 63. 
Gunhilde, daughter of Canute, 153. 
Gunpowder, effects of the invention of, 

352. 
Giinther of Schwarzburg, 263 sq. 
Gustavus IV., King of Sweden, 586. 
Adolphus, King of Sweden, 421 sqq. 

Death of, 427 sqq. Citizen army of, 440. 

Makes Sweden a great power, 457. 

■ Vasa, King of Sweden, 422, 451. 

Gutenberg, John, inventor of movable 

types, 351. 
Guthous, the tribe of, 4 
Gymnasia founded, 444. 

H. 

Hagedorn of Hamburg, poet, 545. 

Hagelberg, battle of, 633. 

Hall)erstadt, bishopric of, 87. 

Halle, University of, founded, 489. 

Haller, poet, 545. 

Hambach, festival of, in 1832, 672. 

Hamburg, burned by the Normans, 112. 

Hanno, Archbishop of Cologne, 162 sq. 
Seizes Henry IV., 163. 

Hanover, the kingdom of, 664. 

Hans Sachs, 325, 444. 

Hanse, a merchants' league, 325 sq. The 
German, 326 sqq. Driven from the seas, 
416. 

Hanseatic League, 229, 326 sqq. Decline of, 
451. 

Hapsburg, house of, 253. In Switzerland, 
270. Power of, founded, 285. Rivalry 
with the Hohenzollerns, 287 sqq. {see 
also 299 S55.). Genealogy of, 316. At the 
head of Europe, 361. And the Reforma- 
tion, 400. Decline of the, 456 sqq. E.x- 
tinct in Spain, 466. Male line of, extinct, 
473, 497. In Silesia, 499. 

Hardenberg, Prussian minister, 591, 608 
sq., 611. Call to arms by, 619. 

, poet {see Novalis). 

Harold Bluetooth, the Dane, 132. 

Haroun-al-Raschid, 98. 

Hartman of the Aue, Sir, minstrel, 220. 

Hartmann, Prussian general, 718. 

Hartzburg, the, destroyed, 166. 

Hase, battle at the river, 86. 

Haspinger, monk and Tyrolese leader, 602, 
604. 

Hassenpflug, minister of Hesse, 681. 

Hastenbeck, battle at, 515. 

Hastings, battle of, 113. 

Hatto, Bishop of Mayence, 114. Services 
of, 115 sqq. 

Haugwitz, Prussian minister, 5.55, 569 sq. 

Havelli, the Wendish tribe of, 126. 

Haynau, Austrian marshal, 679. 

Hedwig, Queen of Poland, 276. 

Hegira of Mohammed, 52. 

Heidelberg Castle, entertainment at, 294. 

Helena, St., the prison of Napoleon, 661. 

Heliand, the, a Saxon Christian poem, 87. 

Helmichis assassinates Alboin, 54. 

Helmstedt, University of, founded, 892. 

Helvetii, the tribe of the, 7. 

Hemmingstedt, battle at, 315. 

Hengist, Prince of the Jutes, 39. 

Henry I., Emperor, "the Fowler," Saxon 
duke, 118 sq. Elected and reigns in the 



HENRY II. 



INDEX. 



HUNS. 



empire, 122 sqq. Services of, to Ger- 
manv, 128, 149. 

Henry II., Emperor (III. of Bavaria), 143, 
145. ReigQ of, 146 sqq. 

• III., Emperor, son of Conrad II., 153, 

155. • Reign of, 156 sqq. Dies, 101. 
Policy of toward the cities, 220. 

IV., Emperor, son of Henry III., 101. 

Contest of, with Gregory VII., 167 sqq., 
214. Deposed, ITO. Abdicates, ITS. 
Burial of, 175. 

v., Emperor, son of Henry IV., re- 
bellion of, 172. Rsign of, 173 sqq. Dies, 
177. Heirs of, ISO. 

VI., Emperor, son of Barbarossa, 

crowned, 193. Married, 196. Emperor, 
197 sqq. Dies, 200. {See also 220, 287.) 

• VII., Emperor, of Luxemburg, elect- 
ed, 249. Reign, 250 sqq., 271. 

• , Prince, sou of Henry the Fowler, 

130 sq. Duke of Bavaria, 132, 134. 
Dies, 136. 

II. of Bavaria, " the Contentious," 

rebellion of, 139 sqq. Colonies of, 233. 

-^ of Bavaria, "the Proud," grandson 
of Welf I., 181,183 8(7. 

• of Saxony, "the Lion," son of Henry 

the Proud, 184 sq., 188 sq. In minstrel- 
sy, 190. Power of, 192 sq., 194 sq., 196 
sq. Dies, 199. Encourages minstrels, 
220. Founds Munich, 225. {See also 231, 
327.) 

, Prince, son of Frederick II., 205 sq. 

Revolt and death of, 207. 

of Austria, marries Gertrude, 185. 

Deposed, 188. 

, Prince, son of Conrad III., death of, 

186. 

of Carinthia, 251. 

, Duke of Brunswick, " the Younger," 

375, 383, 394. Beheads Wulleuwever, 
451. 

, Duke of Saxony, embraces the Re- 
formed faith, 383. 

of Schleswig, " the Pious," 209. 

Raspe of Thuringia, anti-king, 209. 

, Prince of Prussi'a, 517 sq., 522, 528. 

, Prince of Prussia, sou of Frederick 

William II., 574. 

, Archbishop of Metz, deposed, 260. 

, Bishop of Augsburg, 161. 

of Plauen, knight, saves Magdeburg, 

338. 

of Veldeke, minstrel, 220. 

n. of England, 195. 

VIII. of England, 387. 

IL of France, 393. 

IV. of France (of Navarre), 401, 408. 

Edict of Nantes by, 461. 

Hercynian forest, described by Cjesar, 9. 

Herder, philosopher and poet, 531, 546. 

Heresy in the Middle Ages, 216, 349. 

Hermann {see Arminius). 

Balk, Master of the German order, 

232. 

Billing, Count of Saxony, 129,131, 138. 

, Elector of Cologne, 383, 389. 

- — of Salza, Master of the German or- 
der, 223. 

of Suabia, 145. 

, Count of Thuringia, 220. 

, John, hymn-writer, 447. 



Hermanric (Ermenerich), King of the 
East Goth.s 30, 34, 47. 

Hermiones, the tribe of, 5. 

Ilermunduri, the tribe of, 11, lH. 

Herodotus names the Germanii, 3. 

Heroes of the Germans, 45, 47. 

Heruli, the tribe of, 30, 40 sqq., 53. 

Herzberg, minister of Frederick IL, 530, 
540. And of Frederick William IL, 541 
sq. 

Hesse, Landgraves of, 424. 

Hessian soldiers sold to England, 533. 

Ileyde, General von der, 523. 

Heydt, von der, Prussian minister, 084. 

High-German language, the, 106. 

Highways of trade, 227 sq. 

Hiidebrand, the faithful, song of, 341. 

, chaplain of Gregory VI., 159. Arch- 
deacon, 165. Reforms the papal court, 
IGG. Pope as Gregory VII., 167. Be- 
sieged, 170 sq. Dies, 171. Desires a 
crusade, 214. 

Hildesheim, bishopric of, 87. Feud of, 364. 

Hiller of Giirtringeu, Prussian general,699. 

Hirschfeld, Prussian general, 633. 

Hochkirch, battle of, 518 sq. 

Hilchst, battle at, 315. 

Hofer, Andrew, of Passeyr, Tyrolese lead- 
er, 602 sqq. Shot, 604. 

Hoheufriedberg, battle of, 504. 

Hohenlinden, battle of, 562. 

Hoheulohe, Cardinal, 766. 

, Prince, Prussian general, 575 sqq. 

Hohenstaufen family, the, 180. In Italy, 
210 sq. And minstrelsy, 220. Fall of, 
238. 

Hohenzollern, family and castle of, 287 
sqq. 

Ilohenzollerns, the, Counts of Nuremberg, 
225, 287. In Brandenburg, 477. 

Hoier of Mansfeld, general of Henry V., 
175. 

Holstein, free, 314. Subject to Denmark, 
315. Revolt of, 679 sqq. 

Holy Alliance of the monarchs of Europe, 
665. Against liberalism, 670 sq. 

Office, the, of the Inquisition, 401. 

Houdscoten, battle of, 555. 

Honorius, Emperor of the West, 36. 

II., Pope, excommunicates Conrad, 

182. 

III., Pope, 205. 

Hoi-n, Protestant general, 430. 

, Count of, executed, 400. 

Horsa, Prince of the Jutes, 39. 

Houses in the German cities, 321 sq. 

Hubertsbnrg, Peace of, 524, 533 sq. 

Hugh, Conni of Paris, 120. 

. Capet, King of France, 120. 

Hugo, King of Italy, 134. 

Huguenots, the, in France, 397. Driven 
out, 461 sq. 

Humanities, study of the, 351 sq., 357. 

Humboldt, William von, 591, 596. 

, Alexander von, 5'.)6. 

Humphrey of Hauteville, Norman king in 
Italy, 160, 171. 

Hungary, the Avari in, 89. The empire 
in, 157. Revolt of, 159. Revolution of 
1848 in, 679. 

Huns, the, in Asia, 34. Appearance of, 36. 
Migrations of, 40. (See 41, 44.) 



HUSS. 



INDEX. 



181 



Huss, Johu, Reformer, 279. Condemned, 
2S0 nqq. Doctrines of, maintained, 349. 

Huesite War, 334. 

Hussites, tlie, principles of, 2S3. Wars of, 
284 Kq. Luther's views of, 365. 

Hutten, Hans von, 364. 

, Ulric von, 364. 

I. 

Iconium captured by Barbarossa, 190. 

Idistavisus, battle of, 14. 

IdBtadt, battle of, 680. 

Iglan, Treaty of, 285. 

Ignatius, St. {see Loyola). 

lUyria ceded to Alaric, 36. 

Imperial power abridged by the electors, 

236, 306 sqq. 
Indemnity paid by France to Germany, 

747. 
Indulgences, the sale of, 3,56 sq. 
Infallibility of the Pope, discussed, 758 sq. 

Proclaimed, 780. Taught in Germany, 

761 sq. 
Infantry iu the 10th century, 125. 
lugaevones, the tribe of, 5. 
Ingolstiidt, Jesuits iu the University of, 

400. 
Innocent II., Pope, flees to Germany, 182. 

III., Pope, 201, 203. Death of, 205. 

And heretics, 216. 

IV., Pope, 208 sq. 

X., Pope, bull of, against the Peace 

of Westphalia, 436. 

XL, Pope, 461. 

Inquisition, institution of the, 210. Driven 
from Germany, ib. Revived, 399 sq. 

Interdict of the Church, power of the, 212 
sq. 

Interim, the Augsburg, 391 sq. 

International Exhibition of 1867 in Paris, 
707. 

"Internationals" in the German Diet, 754. 

Investitures, the struggle upon, 167, 174, 
176. Settlement of, 177. 

lolanthe of Jerusalem, wife of Frederick 
11. , 206 sq. 

Iriuc, linight of Irmenfried, 62. 

Irish missionaries in Germany, 73 sq. 

Irmenfried, King of Thuriugia, 62. 

Irmengard, wife of Lewis the Pious, 102, 
120. 

, daughter of Lewis II., wife of Boso, 

120. 

Irmenstiule, the, a Saxon sanctuary, S3. 

Iron Cross, Prussian order of the, found- 
ed, 021. 

■ . Crown of Lombardy, the, 54. 

Isabella of Burgundy, wife of Rudolph of 
Hapsburg, 243. 

of England, wife of Frederick IL, 207. 

of Spain, dethroned, 714. 

Isidore, the forged decretals of, 107. 

Issy, Fort, before Paris, silenced, 744. 

Istaevones, the tribe of, 5. 

Italian language, origin of the, 104. 

Italy, ruled by Theodoric, 45 .sq. Exhaust- 
ed of men, 51. Assigned to Lothaire, 
103. Ruled by the Popes, 107, 109. In- 
fluence on the empire, 122, 136, 146 sq. 
Intercourse of, with Germany, 137, 140, 
228. Condition of, in Henry VIL's 
reign, 251 sq. 



Jacob of Baden, Elector of Treves, 308. 

Jacobins, the, in France, 550. 

Jagellons, the house of, iu Poland, 295. 

Jahn, Master of the Turners, 622. 

James II., King of England, driven out, 
462, 485. 

, St., on the Birs, battle at, 292 sq. 

Jaukeu, battle at, 433. 

Jcmappes, battle of, 554. 

Jena, battle of, 576. 

Jerome Bonaparte, 579. King of West- 
phalia, 582 sqq. Court of, 584 sq., 623. 
Driven out, 639. 

of Prague, Reformer, 278 sq. Mar- 
tyrdom of, 282. 

Rhode of Kiinigsberg, 481. 

Jerusalem conquered by Saladin, 196. By 
Frederick II. , 206. By the Turks, 214. 
{See also 291, 449.) 

Jesuit order founded, 399 sq. Controls 
education, 413 sq. Tolerated in Silesia, 
506. Deposed iu Bavaria, 583 sq. Pow- 
erful in Bavaria, 752. Expelled by the 
Pope, 756. Prussian law against, 707 sq. 

Jews, traders in the empire, 94. Perse- 
cuted, 345 sq. 

Joachim I. of Brandenburg, 339, 362, 382. 

II. of Brandenburg, 383, 388, 390 .sg., 

407. Court of, 453. Treaty of, 498. 

Jobst, Margrave of Moravia, 273, 275. 
John VIIL, Pope, 109. 

XIL, Pope, 137. 

XV., Pope, 143. 

XVL, Antipope, 143. 

XIX., Pope, 254, 250 sqq., 278. Abdi- 
cates, 280, 2S9. 

of Prangipauni, 210. 

, King of Jerusalem, 200. 

, St., of Jerusalem, the order of knights 

of, 223, 505. 
the Parricide, assassinates Albert of 

Austria, 248. 
, King of Bohemia, son of Henry VIL, 

251, 250. Slain at Crucy, 201. 
of Nassau, Archbishop of Mayence, 

275. 

, King of all Scandinavia, 314 sq. 

of Leyden, Anabaptist, 375. 

, Duke of Saxony, "the Constant," 

378 sq. 

of Kiistrin, 382, 388. 

of Werth, Bavarian general, 430, 434. 

the One-eyed, inquisitor, 216. 

, Archduke of Austria, 562, 599. 

Casiniir, King of Poland, 480. 

Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg, 302. 

Frederick, Duke of Saxony, 383, 389 

sqq. 
Frederick 11., Duke of Saxony, 404 sq. 

George of Brandenburg, Bishop of 

Salzburg, 406. 

George, Elector of Saxony, 413 sq., 

424 sq., 430. 

George, Margrave of Jiigerudorf, 413. 

George III., Elector of Saxony, 465. 

Sigismuud, Elector of Brandenburg, 

408. 
William, Duke of Jiilich and Cleves, 

407. 
Jonas, friend of Luther, 300. 



18S 



JOSEPH, 



INDEX. 



LEOPOLD. 



Jot^eph I., Emperor, 469. 

II., Emperor, 5-'S sq., 534 sqq. Char- 
acter of, 537. Dies, 53S. {ISee also 544.) 

Bonaparte, Kiug of Spain, 585. 

Clenieus, Archbishop of Cologne, 467. 

Ferdinand of Bavaria, 466. 

Josephine,wife of Napoleon, divorced, 600. 

Josephus tells the horrors of the siege of 
Jerusalem, 449. 

Jourdan, French general, 556, 558. 

Judges among the early Germans, 19. 

Judgment of God, 133. 

Judith, wife of Lewis the Pious, 101 sq., 
120. 

Julius 11., Pope, 308. 

of Brunswick, 392. 

Jiirge of Frousperg, a giant warrior, 438. 

Jiirgeu Wulleuwever, Burgomeister of Lu- 
beck, 451. 

Justinian, Emperor of the East, 50. 

Jutes, the tribe of, 39. 

K. 

Kai, battle at, 51T. 

Kaisershuiteru, battles at, 555 sq. 

Kalisch, Trfaty of, 620. 

Kalksteiu, Colonel von, 481 sq. 

Kamba, assembly of the people at, 151, 
181. 

Kamecke, Prussian general, 718 sq. Be- 
fore Paris, 740. 

Kappel, battle at, 396. 

Katie, Lieutenant, executed, 496. 

Katzbach, Battle on the, 633 sq. 

Kaulbach's painting, "The Battle in the 
Air," 42. 

Kannitz, prime-minister of Austria, 507. 

Keith, general of Frederick U., 513. 

Kellermauu, French general, 553. 

Kiliau, St., missionary, 74. 

Kiug, the life of a, iu the 10th century, 
132 sq. 

of the Franks, the powers of the, 66. 

of the Romans, the title, 122. 

Kingdoms, origin of the German, 22. 

Klagenfurth (Noreja), battle at, 5. 

Kleist, the "minstrel of spring," 546. 

, Von, romantic poet, 596. 

, Von, Prussian general, 578, 617, 636. 

Klopstock, German poet, 545. 

Kuesebeck, 614. 

Knighthood, described, 217. Decline of, 
318 sq., 333 sq. Destroyed by gunpow- 
der, 353. 

Knights, origin of the order of, 217. Edu- 
cation of, 218. Castles of, 219. Of the 
empire, 236, 494. In the Diets, 303, 

of St. John of Jerusalem, 336. 

of the Empire, 236. Number of, 494, 

, the German order of, 336 sqq. 

Templars, the order of, 223, 336. 

Knox, John, iu Scotland, 397. 

KoU) of VVartenburg, minister of Freder- 
ick L, 489. 

Kiiniggnitz, battle of, 698 sqq. 

KiJuigsberg founded, 241. 

Kilnigslutter, Lothaire buried at, 183. 

KiJnigstuhl, the, where elections of kings 
were held, 258. 

KiJruer, Theodore, poet and soldier, 619, 
622. Killed, 633. 

Kosciusko, a Polish prince, 542 sq. 



Kossuth, Louis, President of Hungary, 679. 

Kotzebue, Augustus von, dramatist, assas- 
sinated, 670. 

Kudruu, legendary poem, 221. 

Kunersdori', battle at, 519. 

Kunimund, King of the Gepidae, 53. 

Kuntz of Kauffingen, 293. 

Kurfursten {see Electors). 

Kurverein, or electoral league, 258. 

Kulusofl", Russian general, 568 sq., 614, 620 
sq., 624. 

L. 

Labiau, Convention of, 480. 

Lactariau Mountain, battle of the, 52. 

Ladislaus Posthumus, 295. 

Ladislaw Jagello of Liihuauia, 337 sq. 

Lafayette in America, 548. 

Lambruschini, Cardinal, 756. 

La Mettrie, French author, 508 sq. 

Lamprecht the monk, minstrel, 220. 

Land common property, 9. 

Langensalza, battles at, 166, 696. 

Langerou, Russian general, 634. 

Langobardi (Lombards), the tribe of, 11 
sqq., 39, 46, 49, 53, etc., 83, 105. 

Language of the peojile, Charlemagne eu- 
Courages the, 97. Of the Franks, 104. 
Normans, 113. Motley, during the re- 
ligious wars, 445. 

Lannes, Marshal of France, 568, 577. 

Laplanders in the Swedish service, 446. 

Lateu {see Liti). 

Latin, spoken in Roman provinces, 48. By 
Germans, 49. By the Church, 68. The 
empire. 94. In France, 105. Barbarous, 
lOS. Schools for, 321. 

Laudou, Russian general, 517 sqq. 

Laws, early German, 49 .s^. Roman, 50, 444 
sq. Gothic, 80. Frisian, 87, Code of 
Frederick IL,530. 

League, the Catholic, 407 sq., 412, 425. 

— — of Cambray, 309. 

of the Rhine cities, 329. 

Learning, dependent on the Church, 349 
sq. Extended by the Reformation, 444. 

Leboeuf, marshal in the French army, 715, 
Taken, 730, 

Lech, battle on the, 135 sq. Tilly slain iu, 
426. 

Lefevre, French general, 603. 

Legends of Adelgis, 84. Of Witikind, 85 
sq. Of Roland, 88. Of Charlemagne, 
94. Of Bishop Hatto, 111 sq., 118. Of 
the Lech, 136. Of Otto IIL, 144. 

Lehrbach, Austrian minister, 561. 

Lehwald, general of Frederick II., 512. 

Leibnitz, philosopher, 476, 489, 508, 

Leipsic "Interim," the, 392. Battle at, 
Piccolomiui defeated, 433. Napoleon's 
campaign around, 640 sqq. Battle of 
the nations at, 642 .■^qq. 

Le Mans, battle of, 741. 

Leo the Great, Pope, 42. SavesRorae, 43, 91. 

III., Pope, visits Charlemagne, 91, 

VIIL, Pope, 337. 

. IX., Pope, 159 sq. 

X., Pope, 357. Against Luther, 360 

sq., 365 .s^. 

Leopold, Duke of Bavaria, slain, 116. 

of Babenberg, acquires Austria, 157. 

Betrays Henry IV., 172, 



LEOPOLD. 



INDEX. 



LYONS. 



789 



Leopold III. of Austria, lu Switzerland, 
271. lu Kuabia, 330. 

IV. of Austria, acquires Bavaria, 183. 

Dies, 1S5. 

VII. of Austria encourages minstrel- 
sy, 2i0. 

, son of Albert of Austria, 251, 253. At- 
tacks the Swiss, 255, 271. Aids Freder- 
ick the Fair, 256. Dies, 287. Wars uf, 270. 

of Dessau, at Turin, 468. Disciplines 

Prussian soldiers, 490 s^., 504. 

of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, marriage of, 

654. 

, Bishop of Strasburg, 408. 

, Prince of Hohenzolleru-Sigmariugen, 

714. 
• I., Emperor, 458. In Hungary, 464. 

Death of, 469. Acknowledges Frederick 

L as king, 488. {See 499.) 

II., Emperor, 538, 541 sq. Dies, 551. 

William, Bisliop of Magdeburg, 423. 

William, ilaigrave (;f Baden, 464. 

Lescinsky, Sianislaus, claims the Polish 

throne, 471, 493. 
Lessing, Golthold Ephraim, poet and crit- 
ic, 546. 
Lestocq, Russian general, 579. 
Leuthen, battle at, 514 sq. 
Leuzen, battle at, 126 nq. 
Lewis, Hans David (see York). 
■ I., the Pious, son of Charlemagne, 

100. Emperor, 100 xqq. Family of, 12u. 
II., the German, son of Lewis the Pi- 

ous,101.s(7. Reign of, 107. Family of,120. 

, son of Lewis the German, 107. 

lU., the child, sou of Arnulf, 114, 116, 

120. 

IV. of Bavaria, son of Lewis the Se- 
vere, 254, 250 nq. Reign and death of, 
2bS «qq. Aids the Swiss, 271. Inherits 
Friesland, 813. Sustains the cities, 338. 

, sou of Lewis IV., marries Margaret 

Maultasch, 259. 

of Tliiiringia, rebellion of, 175 nq. 

of Bavaria, Count Palatine, 254. 

■ "the Severe," of Bavaria, 254. 

the Great, of Hungary and Poland, 276. 

of Erlichshausen, Grandmaster of the 

German order, 338. 

of Bavaria, general of Leopold I., 463. 

L, King of Bavaria, 672. Abdicates, 

677. 
- — II., King of Bavaria, 751. 
, Margrave of Baden, general of Leo- 
pold I., 467. 
Liberal thought suppressed in Prussia, 

669 sq. 
Liegniiz, battle of, 521. 
Ligny, battle of, 658. 
Lindau, Diet at, 305. 
Lisaine, lines of the, defended, 742 sq. 
Lisbon captured by Crusaders, 185. 
Literature, the national, of the Germans, 

494. Its highest point of power, 547, 571. 
Liti (Laten), the peasantry of the early 

Germans, 20. Of the Saxons, 85. 
Liutprand of Cremona, chronicler, 137. 
Livonia, colonization in, 232. 
Lochau, battle of, 390. 
Lodi, 191 sq. Battle at the bridge of, 557. 
Lola Momez in Munich, 677. 
Lollards, the, 349. 



Lombards, the tribe of {see Langobardi). 

London, the Hanse in, 328. The plague 
in, 344. Protocol, the, 681, 686 sq. 

Lorraine, the name, 106. Part of the em- 
pire, 124. Divided, 135. France re- 
nounces claim to, 140. Seizes and re- 
tains, 471 sq. Ceded back to Germany, 
747. Government of, 772. 

Lothaire, son of Lewis the Pious, 101 sq. 
Emperor, 103. Death of, 106. 

II., 106, 120. 

the Saxon, of Snpplingenbnrg, 180 sqq. 

, son of Hugo, King of Italy, 134. 

II. of France, 140. 

Lotharingi, the mixed tribe of, 114. 

Lothringen {see Lorraine). 

Louis, the Stammerer, 107, 120. 

III., 107, 120. 

IV., Ultramarinns, 120, 130, 132. 

v., le Faineant, 111, 120. 

Vll., 185. 

IX., St., 210. 

XIL, treaty of, with Wenzel, 273. 

Wars of, 305 sqq. League of Cambray 
with, 809. 

XIII. and Bernard of Weimar, 454. 

XIV., 456 sqq. Wars of, 459 .fqq., 482 

eq., 487. Insolence of, to Germany, 484. 

Example of, 530 sq. 

XV., 499, 506. 

XVI., 549, 551. Executed, 554. 

XVIIL, 653 sq. Policy of, 654 sq. 

Bonaparte, King of Holland, 585, G09 

sq. 

■ — — Ferdinand, Prince, slain, 575. 

Philippe, King of the French, 672. 

Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of 
Prussia, 570 sq., 580. Dies, 59L 

Louvois, policy of, 462. 

Lowositz, battle of, 511. 

Loyola, St. Ignatius, 399. 

Lnbeck, a free city, 195. Capital of the 
Hanse, 327. {See also 228 sq., 419. ) 

Luchesini, Prussian embassador, 574. 

Liidmilla of Bohemia, 126. 

Lndolf, Duke of the Saxous, 123. 

, son of Otto I., 131, 134, 136, 154. 

Ludolfs, house of the, 128. 

Liiitberga, wife of Tassilo, 88. 

Lnitpold, Prince of Bavaria, 751. 

Lullus, disciple of Boniface, 78. 

Luneville, Peace of, in 1801, 562, 564, 567, 
572. 

Luther, Martin, anticipated, 344, 349. The- 
ses of, 358. Early life of, ?b. sj. Labors, 
361, 865, 367 sqq. Letter of, to the Elect- 
or ITrederick, 370 sqq. In the peasants' 
war, 378. At Coburg, 380. At Regens- 
burL', 384. Marriage of, 385. Character 
of, 386. Death of, 387. {Sen also 390, 
396.) Establishes schools, 443. Creates 
the "new High-German," 444. Super- 
stition of, 446. 

Luttich, Diet at, 182. 

Liitzen, battle on the plain of, 427. Second 
battle of, 624 sq. 

Liitzow, Prussian general, 631. 

Lux, Adam, of Mayeuce, defends Charlotte 
Cord ay, 554. 

Luxeml)urir, the house of, 267. Contro- 
versy concerning the duchy of, 713 sq. 

Lyons, General Council at, 208. 



790 



MACDONALD. 



INDEX. 



MIGRATIONS. 



M. 

Macdonald, general of Napoleon, 613, 615, 
633. 

Mack, Austrian general, 568. 

MsicMahon, French marshal, 717 sq., 723 
sqq. 

Madrid, Peace of, m 1526, 380. 

Magdeburg, archbishopric of, founded, 132. 
The city sacked, 423 sq. 

Magenta, battle of, 6S4. 

Magical arts, 446. 

Magnus, Duke of Saxony, 164. 

Magyars iu Hungary, 116, 128, 137. 

Maiiield, tlie, 94. 

Major-domiis (s-ee Mayor of the Palace). 

Malmoe, armistice of, 680. 

Malplaqnet, battle of, 468. 

Manfred, son of Frederick II., 208, 210. 

Manners in the 15th century, 342 sq. 

Manteuffel, Prussian minister, 678, 682, 702 
sqq. Embassador, 706, 711. General, 735 
sq. Campaign of, about Amiens, 738 sg. 

Manufactures in the German cities, 322. 

Marbach, the League of, 275. 

Marbod (see Maroboduus). 

Marches, 19. Counts of, 93, 133. The Sax- 
on, 230. 

Marchfleld, 70. Battle on the, 242. 

Marcomanni, the tribe of, 11. 

Marcus Anrelius, wars of, 28. 

Marengo, battle of, 562. 

Margaret, daughter of Frederick II., 245. 

Maultasch, of the Tyrol, 259. 

Margraves, "as states of the empire," 236. 

Maria of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand 
I., 387. 

Louisa of Austria, second wife of Na- 
poleon, 600, 611. 

Theresa, daughter of Charles VL, 473, 

497. "King," 501. "Empress," 505. 
Divides Poland, 527. Character of, 533. 

Marianne, Princess of Hesse-Homburg, 
622. 

Marignan, battle of, 298. 

Marius, Caius, consul at Rome, 6 sq. 

Marklo, general assembly at, 85. 

Marlborough, Duke of, 467 sqq. 

Maroboduus, King of the Marcomanni, 11 
sq., 15. 

Marriage among the early Germans, 17, 
354. Degraded by the Church, 79 sq. 
Civil, in Prussia, 769. 

Marsi, the tribe of, 10, 13. 

Mars-la-Tour, battle of, 720 sq. 

Martin V., Pope, elected, 280. 

Martin, St., of Tom-s, 68. Preaches mo- 
nasticism, 221. 

Martinsvogel, the League of, 330. 

Mary, daughter of Lewis the Great, 276. 

of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the 

Bold, 299. 

, the Virgin, worship of, 348, 357. Im- 
maculate concepteou of, 756. 

Eleanor of Cleves, 408. 

Massacre of Christians in Bohemia, 126. 

Massena, French general, 561. 

Massenbach, Prussian general, 615. 

Mastai Ferretti (sec Pius IX.). 

Mathilde, wife of Henry the Fowler, 123, 
128, 130. 

Matilda, Marchioness of Tuscany, 169. 



Marriage of, 174 87. Death of, 176. Pos- 
sessions of, 182, 191, 203. 

Matilda of England, wife of Henry V., 175. 

Matteo Visconti, 252. 

Matthias, Emperor, son of Maximilian II., 
404, 410 sq. 

Corviuus,King of Hungary, 295, 298 sq. 

Thurn, Count, 416, 428. 

Maurice of Anhalt, general, 513. 

, Duke of Saxony, 293, 388. Deserts 

the Protestants, 389 sq. Quarrel of, with 
Charles V., 392 sqq. Death of, 394. 

Max Emanuel of Bavaria, 465 sqq. 

Joseph of Bavaria, 568, 683. 

Maximilian I., Emperor, 269. Son of 
Frederick III., 296. Marriage of, 299. 
Reign of, 300 sqq. At the Diet of Frei- 
burg, 305 sq. Death of, 362. Employs 
mercenary soldiers, 438. In a tableau, 
656. 

II., Emperor, son of Ferdinand of 

Austria, 392. Reign of, 402 sq. 

of Austria, Emperor of Mexico, 712 s j. 

, Duke of Bavaria, 406 sq., 412, 414, 416, 

420. 

(Joseph) of Bavaria, son of Charles 

Albert, 505, 530. Death of, 534. 

IV. (Joseph) of Bavaria, 536. 

II., King of Bavaria, 676 sq. 

Maximiu, athlete and emperor, 33. 

Mayence, archbishopric of, 104 etc., 301 sq. 
The city humbled, 191. Origin of, 224. 
Destroyed and restored, 301 sq. Early 
printing in, 352. 

Mayor of the Palace, 67, 69. 

Mazarin, Cardinal, 456. 

Ma/zini, revolutionary leader, 679. 

Meiuhard of Gortz, Duke of Cariuthia, 242. 

Meissen colonized, 232. 

Melac, general of Louis XIV., 462. 

Melanchthon, Philip, reformer, 360, 870, 
3S0 sq., 384, 392. Death of, 398. Taught 
at Wittenberg, 444. 

Melas, Austrian general, 561 sq. 

Meldorf, capture and massacre of, 315. 

Meuschikoff, Russian general, 492. 

Mercenaries, German, in the Roman ar- 
mies, 15, 28, 33, 43. Employed by the 
cities, 321. Wars of, 339. In the Thirty- 
Years' War, 438 sq. 

Mercy, general of Ferdinand HI., 434. 

Mergeutheim, battle at, 434. 

Merovseus, founder of the Merovingians, 57. 

Merovingians, house of, 57. Violence in, 
63 sqq. Fall of, 71 sq. 

Merseburg, battles at, 118, 170. Judgment 
of Barbarossa at, 186. 

Mersen, Convention of, 106. 

Mer veldt, Austrian general, embassy of, 
642. 

Methodius, missionary, 113. 

Mett'ernich, Austrian minister, 608. Poli- 
cy of, 611, 627. Power of, 663, 668. Sup- 
pressed free thought, 670. Driven from 
Vienna, 677. 

Metz, Diet at, 265. Ceded to France, 435. 
Great battles around, 720 sqq. Siege of, 
729 sqq. 

Michael, St., the banner of, 120, 135. 

Middle Ages, the Church iu the, 212. 

Middle High-German language, the, 220. 

Migrations, the great, 33 sq., 39, 40 sq. 



INDEX. 



791 



Milan, besieged, 155. Reduced by Barba- 

rossa, 189 sqq. (See 252, 306.) 
Military orgauizatiou of the early Ger- 

raaus, 4S. Of Charlemagne, 93 sq. 
Milleuiiial year, superstitious concerniug 

the 144. 
Miltit'z, Baron, 361. 
Miuden, battle at, 520. 
Miues the Iciug's property, 133. 
Minna von Barhelm, by Lessiug, 546. 
Miuuesiugers, 220. 
Minorite mouks, the Black Death among, 

344. 
Minstrels at the court of Frederick II., 206. 

Traveling, 220, 840 sq. 
Minstrelsy, the ancient heroic, 45, 4T, 94, 

97. Of the Saxons, 118. In the cities, 

325. Decline of, 833. 
Miracles of superstition, 79. 
Missitms, Christian, 75 fsq., 87, 100, 132. 
Mockeru, battles of, 024, 641. 
Mohammed, the Prophet, 52. 
Mohammedan religion and Christianity, 70. 
Miilleudorf, Prussian general, 556,576. 
Mollwitz, battle of, 500. 
Moltke, Hellmuth von, Prussian general 

and chief of stafl", 698, 709 sq. Plans of, 

716. 
Monarchy, absolute, in Europe, 456. 
Monastic orders, 221 sq. 
Monasticism in Europe, 221. 
Money, the growing power of, 304, 319. 
Money-lenders and the German princes, 

451,453. 
Mongol tribes, 40. 
Mongols invade Schleswig, 209. 
Monks mocked by the people, 343. 
Monte Casino, convent of, 221. 
Moutecuccoli, battle of, 404. 
Montgelas, Bavarian minister, 583. 
Montmartre, the heights of. Otto II. upon, 

140. Stormed by the allies, 653. 
Moral eflect of war, 443. 
Morality in the Roman provinces, 49. 

Among the Franks, 61. Decline of. 73, 

79. Severed from religion, 98. Of the 

clergy, 134, 357. In the cities, after the 

religious wars, 450. 
Morand, French general, killed, 623. 
Moravia, kingdom of, 109, 113. 
Moreau, French general, 558, 561. Ban- 
ished, 666. 
Morgarten, battle of, 255, 271. 
Mortier, French general, 565. 
Moscherosch, historian, quoted, 441. 
Moscow, Napoleon in, 614. 
Mountain, the, in the French Assembly, 

549. 
Mouse-tower, legend of the, 115 sq. 
Miihlberg, battle of, 499. 
Muhldorf, battle of, 256, 259, 288. 
Miihler,Von, Prussian minister, 761, 705. 
Munich founded, 225. 
Miinster, Count, at Reicheubach, 628. At 

Vienna, 664. 
, bishopric of, 87. Convention at, 

434. 
Miinzer, Thomas, leader of the peasants, 

375. 
Murat, Marshal of France, 508. Grand- 
Duke of Berg, 570. (See 573, 577.) King 

of Naples, 585, 657. 



Murder compounded for money, 50. 
Murten, battle of, 297. 

N. 

Nachod, battle of, 696 sq. 

Niifels, Swiss victory at, 2T2. 

Nancy, battle at, 297 sq. 

Naples, siege of, 198. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, career of, begun, 557. 
In Italy, 558 sqq. First Consul, 561 sqq. 
Emperor, 566 sqq. Master of Germany, 
583 sqq. At the zenith of his power, 010 
sqq. Invasion of Russia by, 012 sqq. 
Campaign of Dresden, 032 sqq. Abdi- 
cates, 653. In Elba, ib. Returns to 
France, 655 sq. Abdicates again, 660. 
A prisoner, ib. sq. Death of, 661. 

III., Emperor of the French, 683, 700, 

705sg.,712sg7. At Sedau,725. Deposed, 
727. Protection of the papacy by, 757. 

, Francis Charles Joseph, Duke of 

Reichstadt, born, 610. 

Narbimuc, battle in, 70. 

Narses, lieutenant of Justinian, 52. 

Nations of Europe formed, 317. 

Natzmer, Major, embassy of, 616 sq. 

Needle-gun invented, 698. 

Neerwinden, battle of, 555. 

Neil, marshal and minister of war in 
France, 714. 

Neipperg, Austrian general, 500. 

Neiihardt, Augustus^ William (sec Gneise- 
nau). 

Nelson, British admiral, 509. 

Nemetes, the tribe of, 8. 

Nepomuck, St., death of, 273. 

Nervii, the tribe of, 8. 

Netherlands, the, 387. Calvinism in, 397. 
Neglected by Germany, 400. Lost, 401, 
435. 

Nettelbeck, mariner, defends Colberg, 579, 
593. 

Neuss, besieged by Charles the Bold, 290. 

Ncy, French marshal, 5TS, 633 sq., 637 sq. 
Deserts to Napoleon, 055. 

Nibelungen Lay, the, 62, 221. Scenes of, 
288. 

Nicholas, Czar of Russia, 679. 

of Amsdorf, 385. 

Nicopolis, battle at, 294. 

Niebuhr, historian and statesman in Prus- 
sia, 591. 

Nobility, the Saxon, 123. Encroachments 
of, on the crown, 143, 148. 

Nobles, the German, 107, 109. Of Lor- 
raine, 124. The Saxon, in council, 127. 
And Otto I., 131, 138. Defiant spirit of, 
147. Under the empire, 304. Degen- 
eracy of, 333 sqq. In the 16th century, 
452. And in the Thirty- Years' War, ib. 
sq. Privileges of, in Prussia, reduced, 
588, 771 sq. 

Nollendorf, battle of, 630. 

Norbert of Cologne founds the Premon- 
strate order, 223. 

Nordlingen, the battle of, 480. Cruelties 
at, 449. 

Noreja (see Klagenfnrth). 

Normandy, 112. 

Normans, kings of the, 9S. The piratical, 
103, 109, 111 sq. In Sicily, 118, 123. In 
Italy, 148, 153, 188. 



792 



NORTH. 



INDEX. 



North German Bnnd formed, 706. 

Northmen {see Normaus). 

Novalis (Hardeuber<;), 5116. 

Novogorod, trade ofthe Hanse with, 328. 

Niiits, battle at, 738. 

Niinuenbeck, Hans, the weaver minstrel, 

325. 
Nuremberg, Counts of, 225. The Golden 

Bull adopted at, 265. Diets at, 273, 290. 

Splendor of, 324. Religious Peace of, 

382. 
Nyberg, battle of, 481. 
Nymwegeu, Peace of, 460, 484. 
Nystadt, Peace of, 493. 

O. 

Octavius Ciesar (see Augustus). 

Odo of Paris, 109 sqq., 120. 

Odoacer destroys the Roman Empire, 43 

sqq. 
Oeversee, battle at, 087. 
Old Catholics, the Church of, 764 sq. 
Oldeuwiirdeu, church at, burned, 314. 
Old High-German language, 106. 
Oliva, Peace of, 481. 

Ollivier, minister of Napoleon, 714, 723. 
Olmiitz, the bishop of, writes to the Pope, 

239. 
Olsuwieff, Russian general, 650. 
Opitz, Martiu,poet, 454. 
Ordeal, trial by, 50. 
Order, (;ivil, in the empire, 62 sq. 
Order of knights, the German, 228, 336. 
Orleans, besieged by Attila, 41. Battles 

of, in 1S70, 735. 
Osiander, bishop in Wirtemberg, 494. 
Osnabriick, bishopric of, 87. Convention 

at, 434. 
Ostermann, Russian general, 636. 
Ostrogoths (see East Goths). 
Otto i., the Great, Emperor, marriage of, 

120. Elected, 128. Reign of, 130 sqq. 

Victories of, 135 sq. Dies, 138. Services 

of, to the empire, 149. 
II., Emperor, 136 sqq. Adventures 

of, in Italy, 141. 
III., Emperor, 140. Result of his 

reign, 149. 

IV., Emperor, 200 sqq. Death of, 204. 

the Illustrious, Duke of Saxony, 117, 

123. 

of Suabia, son of Ludolf, 140. 

of Champagne, 152. 

the Rich, 181. 

(Nordheim) of Bavaria, 161 .sij. Con- 
spires against Henry IV., 164 •sg'. 
of Wittelsbach, 1S9. Duke of Bava- 
ria, 194. Slays Philip, 202. 

, son of Albert I., 2.57. 

the Lazy, of Brandenburg, 267. 

Ottocar II., of Bohemia, 233, 241 sq. 
Oudenarde, battle of, 468. 
Oiidinot, French general, 631 tiq. 
Ouitzow, the brothers, in Brandenburg, 

336. 
Oxenstiern, chancellor of Sweden, 428. 



Paderborn, bishopric of, S7 sq. 
Paladines, General Anrelles de, 734. 
Palatinate devastated by Louis XIV., 462. 
Palatine, Counts, 67, 131. 



Palermo, Frederick IL buried at, 209. 

Palikao, French minister, 723. 

Palm, John Philip, murdered by Napo- 
leon, 584. 

Palmerston, British minister, 687. 

Papacy, the, under Innocent III., 205. De- 
cline of, 247. 

Papal See, the, deposes Childeric III., 72. 

Papirius (.see Carbo). 

Pappeuheim, General, 424, 427} 

Paris, capital of Clovis, 61. Besieged by 
the Normans, 112. Young German 
nobles at, 453. Peace of, in 1763, 524. 
Taken by the allies, 053 sq. Peace of, 
in 1814, 654. Peace of, in 1S55, 660. Be- 
sieged by the Germans, 728, 780 sqq. 
Fortifications cSi', 731. Capitulation of, 
746 sq. 

Parliament, National, at Frankfort, 677 
sqq. 

Parrain, St., missionary, 74. 

Paschal II., Pope, yields to Henry V., 175 
sq. 

HI., Pope, 192. 

Passarowitz, Peace of, 472. 

Passan, battle at, 118. Trace of, 393. 

Particularists, in South Germany, 707. In 
Bavaria, 752. In the empire, 770. 

Patricians in the cities, 319. 

Patrimony of St. Peter, 72. 

Paul Gerhard, hymn-writer, 447. 

III., Pope, 384. 

I., Czar of Russia, 560 sqq. Assassi- 
nated, 507. 

Paulus Diaconus, annalist, 53. 

Pay of soldiers in the Thirty-Years' War, 
439. 

Peace of God, the, preached from Cluny, 
158. 

. the national, 292. "The eternal," 

298. The public, 802 sq. 

, the religious, of Augsbnrg, 393. 

of Westphalia, 298. Conditions of, 

435 sq. Effect on religious freedom, 
437. On the empire, 473 sq. 

Peasants in the 12th and 13th centuries, 
217. In the 16th century, 334, 339, 447. 
Insurrections of, 373 sqq., 378, 447. In 
Prussia, 527. Emancipated, 587. Im- 
proved in condition, 075. 

Pepin of Heristal, 69. Descendants of, 71, 

of Landen. 69. Descendants of, 120. 

the Short, 71 sqq. His kingdom, 82. 

Family of, 120. 

, son of Charlemagne, 89, 100, 120. 

, son of Lewis the Pious, 101 sqq. 

Persecution of Jews, .B46. Of Protestants, 
406. In Bohemia, 413 sq. In Westpha- 
lia, 416. Of witches, 446 sq. Of Prot- 
estants in Hungary, 464. In Silesia, 499. 

Personal allegiance among the Germans, 
21. 

Peter the Great, of Russia, 488, 491 sq. 

III., of Russia, Czarowitch, 510, 515. 

Czar, 523. 

the Hermit, 171, 213 sq. 

the Lombard, Bishop of Paris, 848. 

of Viucis, chancellor of Frederick 

IL, 206. 

, King of Hungary, 157, 159. 

in.,of Aragou,211. 

, Antipope, 257. 



PETERWAEDEIN. 



INDEX. 



REGENSBURG. 



793 



Peierwarclehi, battle of, 472. 

Petrarch, faith of, in the empire, 265. 

Pfahlburger, 320. 

Pfalz-giafeii (see Palatine, Connts). 

Pflug, Dr., at the Regensburg Conference, 
3Ci. 

Pharas besieges Gelimer in Pappiia, 51. 

Philander of Sittewald, 441. {!See Mosche- 
rosch.) 

Philip Augustus, King of France, 196. 

Philip of Suabia, Emperor, sou of Barba- 
rossa, 200 S']q. 

the Fair, King of Prance, 247, 249. 

■ v.. King of France, 200. 

: the Good of Burgundy, 2S5, 296. 

the Magnanimous, Landgrave of Hes- 

8e, 369, 375, 379 sqq. , 390 sq. , 393. (See 5S5. ) 

, Archduke of Austria, sou of Maxi- 
milian I., 305. 

II. of Spain, son of Charles V., 892, 

394, 400 sq. 

■ of Anjon, King of Spain, 467. 

Piasti, the Polish dynasty of, 191. In Si- 
lesia, 498. 

Piccolomini, general under Wallenstein, 
4-29. 

Pichegru, French general, 556. Conspir- 
acy of, 566. 

Piligriii, Archbishop of Salzburg, 331. 

Pirates, 31. The Norman, 103, 109, 113. 

Pirmasens, battle of, 555. 

Pisa, Council of, 278. 

Pitt, William, English minister, 560, .65. 
Dies, 573. 

Pius II., Pope, 282, 293. Describes the 
German cities, 323. 

VII., Pope, 537. 

IX., Pope, calls the Vatican Council, 

707. Pontificate of, 755 sqq. 

Pleisswitz, armistice of, 626. 

Plotho, Von, Prussian embassador, 512. 

Podestas in the Italian cities, 191 sq. 

Poetry of the Saxons, 87. Heroic, 94. Of 
the knights, 219 s^. Flourishing periods 
of, 221, 545. sg., 622. 

Poitiers, battle at, 70. 

Poland, torn by dissension, 152. And 
the empire, 182, 191. Acquires West 
Prussia, 3.-i8. Partition of, planned, 52S. 
First partition, 529. (SeeSilsq.) Second 
partition, 542 .<r/., 555. Third partition, 
543. Revolt of, 578. Demanded by 
Russia, 655, 662. 

Poles, the kingdom of the, formed, 145. 

Polish Succession, War of the, 493 sq., 497. 

Polybius disputes the veracity of Pytheas, 
4. 

Pompadour, the Marquise de, 509. 

Poniatowski, Stanislaus, King of Poland, 
541 sq., 642, 644. 

Pope, the, governs Rome, 54. Bestows 
the empire, 90, 107, 136. The title of, 
91 sq. Supreme in Italy, 107. Loses 
power, 133, 137, 159. 

Popes, degeneracy of the, 158. Three at 
once, 159, 278. (See. 277 sq.) 

Population of Germany reduced by the 
Thirty-Years' War, 438. 

Portuguese language, origin of the, 106. 

Potato war, the, 536. 

Pojemkin, Russian general, 541. 

Potockl, Polish prince, 542, 



"Pragmatic Sanction" of Charles VL,473, 
493, 497. 

Prague, University of, founded, 263, 268. 
John Huss at, 279. Massacre at, 413. 
The separate Peace of, 430. Battle at, 
513. Congress of, 628. Peace of, ih 
1866, 705. 

Bremonstrate order of monks, 222 sq. 

Premyslides, the royal house of, in Bohe- 
mia, 233. Dies out, 247. 

Presburg, Peace of, 509 .sg., 001. 

Prierias, Sylvester, opposes Luther, 359. 

Priests among the Pranks, 66. 

Prim, Spanish general, 714. 

Princes, the, in Germany, 217, 235, 304. 
In the Thirty-Years' War, 453 sq. 

Printing, the art of, invented, 350 sqq. 

Pritzlava, battle at, 161. 

"Private venseance," the right of, 237, 292. 
Abolished, 302. Results of, 335. 

Procopius, Margrave of Silesia, 275. 

Protestants, origin of the name, 380. Di- 
visions of, 397 sq. 

Provincial Estates constituted in Prussia, 
669, 676. 

Prussia, first germ of, 90. Colonization in, 
232. Becomes a kingdom, 488. Growth 
of, 495, 505 sq. Enlarged in 1815, G62. 
Rapid progress of, 674 sq. Arbitrary 
course of the government, 691 sq. En- 
larged in 1866, 701, 705. At the head of 
Germany, 706 sq. Wise policy of, 750. 
Religious toleration in, 754. Constitu- 
tion of, 771. 

Pultowa, battle of, 491. 

Pytheas of Massilia visits the Teutons and 
Guthons, 4. 

Q- 

Quadi, the tribe of, 11. 

" Quadruple Alliance," the, 503. At Chau- 

mont, 651. 
Quedlinburg, abbey of, the tomb of Henry 

I., 128. 

R. 

Raab, battle of, 599. 

Rack, the, used for torture, 447. 

Radagast invades Italy, 36. 

Radbod, the Frisian, 75 sq. 

Radetzky, Austrian marshal, 678. 

Radowitz, Prussian embassador, 676, 6S1. 

Ragoczy (if Transylvania, rebellion of, 464. 

Ramillies, battle of, 468. 

Rastatt, Treaty of, 470. Congress of, 559 
.57. Embassadors assassinated at, 561. 

Rathhauser (town-halls), 321. 

Ratisbon (see Regensburg). 

Ravaillac, assassin, 408. 

Ravenna, captured, 51. Exarchate of, 53. 

Rechberg, Austrian minister, 686. 

Redarii, the tribe of, 126. 

Reformation in the Church, demanded, 
143, 279, 355. The great, eftect and value 
of, 348, 368, 379, 443. A German move- 
ment, 354. Progress of, 376, 379, 395 sqq., 
3m sqq. Spirit of, 4.54 *ig. 

Reformers before the Reformation, 349. 

Regency of the empire, 363. 

Regensburg (Ratisbon), origin of, 10. Diet 
at, 256. Conference at, 384. Permanent 
Diet at, 474. Battles around, 548 sq. 



V94 



EEICHENBACH. 



INDEX. 



SAXONY. 



Eeicheubach, Cougress of, 541 sq. lu 1S13, 
628. 

Reichstag, 71. 

lieiuecke the Fox, song of, 341. 

Keiukens, bishop of the Old Catholics, 704 
sq. 

Religion of the early Germans, 17, 23, 48. 

Religious agitation in Prussia, G76 xq. , 

orders, 221 sqq. Recent growth cl', in 

Prussia, 767. 

Remigius, St., instructs Clovis, 58. 

Reno of Lorraine, 298. 

Reuse, the place of election at, 249, 258, 260. 

Republic, the, in France, 549 sqq. Estab- 
lished by France, 559 sq. In Paris iu 
1870, 727 sq. 

Reservation, the ecclesiastical, 394. 

Reubel, general of Jerome Bonaparte, 607. 

Reutlingen, battle at, 330. 

Revolution, the French, approach of, 538, 
548 sqq. Effect of, iu Germany, 550 sq. 
The American, 548. The July, in Paris, 
672. Of 1848, in France, 677. In Ger- 
many, lb. sq. Successive in France, 712. 

Rheims taken by Napoleon, 652. 

Rhenish League of Louis XIV., 459. 

Mercury suppressed, 669. 

Rhine, the, crossed by Csesar, 9. The 
boundary of Germany, ib. Tolls on, 245, 
247. The "natural boundary "of France, 
559. A " German rivei'," 645. 

League, formed by Napoleon. 573. 

Troops of, 584. 598, 601, 609, 645 sq. ' 

Eiade, battle at,' 127. 

Richard of Cornwall, anti-king, 238 sqq. 

■ ■ the Lion-hearted, 196 sqq. 

Richelieu, French general, 515. 

, prime-minister in France, 420, 456. 

Richenza, mother of Gertrude, 1S4. 
Ried, Treaty of, 644. (See also 638.) 
Rieuzi, Cola, Tribune of Rome, 265. 
Ripuarian Franks (Ripuarii), 56, 58. (See 

Clovis.) 
Roads iu Germany, 28. 
Robber castles destroyed by Rudolph, 242, 

335. By gunpowder, 352. 

knights and the crusades, 186. Iu 

the 14th century, 229, 237. Iu the 16th, 
309, 335. 

Robert, father of Odo, 109 sq. 

of Normandy, "the Devil," 113. 

IL, King of Prance, 1.52. 

of Citeaux founds the Cistercian or- 
der, 222. 

Guiscard, King of the Normans, 171. 

, King of Naples, 252. 

Robespierre, French revolutionary leader, 
549. 

Rochefort, lampoon-writer, 727. 

Roderick,King of the West Goths, slain,53. 

Roger II. of Sicily, 183. 

Roland of Brittany, 88. Song of, 95. 

Rollo, Duke of the Normaus, 112. 

Roman Emperor Elect, the title of, 308. 

Empire, 5, 38. Fall of, 43. Power of, 

as an idea, 44. Changes iu, 46. 

Germany, 10. 

law iu the provinces, 48. Encouraged 

by Barbarossa, 190. 

Romance languages, 105 sqq, 

Romans, sovereignty of the, 5. Against 
Germans, 11, 26. 



Rome, sacked by the Gt)ths, 37. By the 
Vandals, 43. And the Pope, 53. Name 
of, 60. Bishop of, 90. Subdued by Bar- 
barossa, 189. Revolution in, 257. Capt- 
ured by De Bourbon, 380. 

Roucesvalles, battle in, 88. Legends of, 94. 

Ronco, assembly in the lields of, 174, 188, 
190. 

Roon, Albert von, Prussian war minister, 
698, 710. 

Rosamund, wife of Alboiu, 53 sq. 

Rossbach, battle of, 515. 

Round Table of King Arthur, in German 
minstrelsy, 220. 

Riichel, Prussian general, 576. 

Riickert, Frederick, poet, 622. 

lliidiger of Stahremberg, 465. 

Rudolph I. ofHapsburg, Emperor, 239 sgg. 
In Switzerland, 270. (,S'ce 2S7 sq.) 

IL, Emperor, 403 sqq. Death of, 409. 

of Rheinfeld, Duke of Suabia, 162, 165, 

170. 

I. of Upper Burgundy, 110, 120. 

II. of Burgundy, 111, 120. 

IIL, 120, 147, 152 sqq. 

, son of Rudolph of Hapsburg, 242. 

. son of Albert of Austria, 247 sq. 

of Bavaria, Count Palatine, 254. 

IL, Count Palatine, 259. 

Rudolstiidt, Countess of, 453. 

KiJgeu, naval engagement at, 688. 

Rugii, the tribe of, 11, 30, 40 sqq. 

Rupert L, Emperor, Count of the Palati- 
nate, 259. Releases Wenzel, 273. Elect- 
ed, 274 sq. Destroys the city mercena- 
ries, 331. 

IL of the Palatinate, 808. 

Rurik, the Wiiriug, 113. 

Russia, ascendency of, 493. 

Russian embassy to Henry HI., 157. 

Ryswick, Peace of, 463. 

clause, permitting religious persecu- 
tion, 463. 



Saarbriicken, Napoleon attacks, 717. 

Sabiua, wife of Ulric of Wirteniberg, 364. 

Sachs (see Hans Sachs). 

Sackeu, Russian general, 634. 

Sadowa, battle of, 698 sqq. "Compensa- 
tion for," demanded, 713. 

Saints, veneration of among the Franks, 
OS. Legends of, 79. 

Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, 196. Conquers 
Jerusalem, 215. 

Salerno besieged, 148. 

Salic Franks, 56 sq., 66. (See Clovis.) 

Salzburg, province of, 89. 

San Germano, Peace of, 206. 

Sanctuaries among the Franks, 68. 

Sand, Charles, assassin of Kotzebue,670sg. 

Saracens attacked by Charlemagne, 88. Iu 
Sicily, 109. In Italy, 141, 148, 205, 215. 
Threaten Jerusalem, 185. 

Savonarola, 349. 

Saxe, Marshal, 505. 

Saxon, the name, 31. The language, 87. 

princes, rape of the, 293. 

Saxons, the tribe of, 31, 39 sqq., 78, 78, S3, 
etc. Vigor of the race, 454 sq. 

Saxony, the imperial house of, 149. Gen- 
eral revolt of, 165. Made a kingdom, 5S1. 



SCABINS. 



INDEX. 



STATES-GENERAL. 



795 



Scabins, or royal judges, 93. 
Scandiuaviau religion, 24. 
Scandiiiaviaus, of German descent, 40. 
Scharnhorst, Prussian general and minis- 
ter, 531. Reorganizes the army, 589 sq., 

611. Dies, 621. 
Schellenberg, battle of, 408. 
Scheukendorf, poet, 622. 
Schertliu, Sebastian, 388 sq., 438. 
Schill, at Colberg, 579, 593. His war 

against Napoleon, 605 sq. 
Schiller, poems on Swiss heroism, by, 270. 

Education of, 532. (See 547.) Dies, 596. 
Schism of the Church, the great, 278. 
Schlegel, the brothers, 590. (See also 598.) 
Schlegler, the, an association of knights, 

270, 836. 
Schleierraacher, philosopher and theolo- 
gian, 595. 
Schleswig annexed to the empire, 127. To 

Denmat-k, ib., 152. 314. And Poland, 191. 

War of 1848 in, 679 sqq. Given up to 

Denmark, 682. War of 1804 in, 686 sqq. 

Ceded to Prussia and Austria, 688. To 

Prussia alone, 701. 
Schliiter, architect of Frederick I., 488. 
Schiifier, Peter, printer in Mayence, 351. 
Schiin, President of East Prussia, 617. 
Schunbrunn, Peace of, 570, 600, 603. 
Schools in Germany, 443. 
Schulenberg, French general, 574. 

Kehnert, Prussian general, 577. 

Schurf, Jerome, 300. 

Schwanthaler, sculptor, 676. 

Schvvarz, Berthold, invents gunpowder, 

352. 
Schwarzenberg, Austrian minister, 681. 
, Marshal of Austria, 611, 613, 030, 641, 

648. 

, Chancellor of Brandenburg, 423. 

Schwegler, the, in Suabia, 330. 

Schwerin, general of Frederick II., 500, 511, 

513. 
Science and superstition, 350. 
Sciri, the tribe of, 40 sqq., 45. 
Sclaves, subject to Atiila, 40. East of the 

Elbe, 89, 126. (See Sclavonic tribes.) 
Sclavonic tribes move westward, 36. East 

of the Elbe, 46, 126, 128. Revolt of, 141, 

143. 
Scordisci, the tribe of, 5. 
Scott, Sir Walter, quoted, 581 sq. 
Scultetns, court preacher in Prague, 412. 
Scurcola, battle of, 210. 
Seckendorf, Austrian embassador, 490, 

496. 
Seckenheim, battle of, 294. 
Secularization of Church estates, 379, 502. 
Sedan, battle of, 724 sq. 
Seidlitz, general of Frederick II., 515, 524. 
Seifrid Schweppermann, 256. 
Seleph, the river, 196 (see Calicadnus). 
Self-help, feudal practice of, 237, 239, 292. 
Semnones, the tribe of, 11. 
Sempach, battle of, 271 sq. Leopold III. 

slain at, 331. 
Seven -Years' War, the, 511 sqq., Chap. 

XXIII. Results of, 524 sq., 531. 
Shield, elevation of kings on the, 67. 
Sibylla, wife of John Frederick of Saxony, 

390. 
Sicily, insurrection in, 200. 



Sickingen, Francis of, befriends Luther, 
366 sq. 

Siegfried the Horned, minstrel, 341. 

, death of, in the Nibelungen, 221. 

Siegriech, son of Sigismund of Burgundy, 
03. 

Sieverhausen, battle of, 394. 

Sigambri, the tribe of, 10, 12, 31. 

Sigbert, King of the Ripuarian Franks, 58. 
Assassinated, 60. 

, son of Clothilde, 64. 

Sigismund, son of Charles IV., 273, 275. 
Anti-king, 276. Emperor, i6. «gg. Death 
of, 285. (See also 288, 294. ) 

, St., King of the Burgundians, 63. 

of Austria, 296. 

of Sweden and Poland, 413, 421. 

, Elector of Brandenburg, 477. 

Silesia colonized, 233. Claimed by Fred- 
erick II., 498 sqq. Described, 506 sq. 

Silesian War, the first, 492 sqq. The sec- 
ond, 503 sq. 

Siliugi, the tribe of, 11, 37. 

Simony, practiced by Henry TV., 108. 

Sippe, sippschaft, among the early Ger- 
mans, 18. 

Sistowa, Peace of, 542. 

Skepticism in the Middle Ages, 216. 

Slavery fostered by Otto I., 138. 

Slaves among the early Germans, 16, 20. 
Without civil rights, 50. Protected, 80. 

Slave-trade abolished, 656. 

Smalcaldic League, 381 .tqq., 387, 396. 

Sol)ieski, John, King of Poland, 405. 

Soestfeud, the, in Westphalia, 294. 

Soissons, battle of, 57. 

Solferino, battle of, 684. 

Si)ltykofl', Russian general, 519. 

Scmgs of knighthood, 219. 

Sophia Dorothea, Princess of Hanover, 
475. Mother of Frederick II., 495. 

Sophie Charlotte of Hanover, 489. 

Sor, battle of, 504. 

Sorbs (Sorbi), a Sclavonic tribe, 85, 89. 

Soubise, Prince of, French general, 515. 

Sottlt, French marshal, 577. 

Southey's ballad of Bishop Hatto, 115 sq. 

Spaer, General von, 479. 

Spain, the West Goths in, 38. Charlemagne 
invades, 88. 

Spalatin, friend of Luther, 360. 

Spanish language, origin of the, 105 sq. 

Succession, War of the, 460 sqq. 

Speckbacher, Tyrolese leader, 602, 604. 

Spener, Philip Jacob, 470. 

Spicheren, battle of, 718 sq. 

Spinola invades the Palatinate, 414. 

Spires, 155. Diet at, 207. Origin of, 224. 
(See also 251, 380.) 

Sports, change in the popular, 319. 

Stadiou, Coiint Philip, minister of Austria, 
596. Retires, 600. 

Stanislaus Lescinsky, 471, 493. 

Pouiatowski, 541 (see Poniatowski). 

" States of the empire" described, 235 sq., 
303. Number of, 494. 

"States" of the principalities, 304. Pow- 
ers of, taken away, 475. Promised 
throughout Germany, 669. Established 
in the smaller countries, 071 sq. 

States-General of Prussia proposed by 
Stein, 5S8. 



f96 



STAUFEN, 



INDEX. 



TORTURE. 



Stiiiifeu, ISO {see Hoheustaufeu). 

Stedinjrer, origin of the, 311. Struggles of, 
for liberty, 312 yq. 

Stein, Baron, Prussian minister, 574, 57S. 
■ Character and career of, 5S6 sqq. De- 
nounced by Napoleon, 5S9. Eflect of his 
fall, 59T. Plans of, in 1809, C04. In St. 
Petersburg, 015. Intlueuce of, 046, 676. 

Steinhuder Lake, battle of the, 141. 

Steiumetz, Prussian general, 097, 711, 71G. 

Stephania, widow of Crescentius, 144. 

Stephen II., Pope, visits Pepin, 72. 

ni.. Pope, 82. Death of, S3. 

, St., of Hnngary, 145, 157. 

Steward of Waklburg, the, adventurer, 488. 

Stiiico, minister of Houorius, 36 nq., 39. 

Stirrup, living by the, 2.37, 335. 

St. Marsan, French embassador, 589. 

Stoclsach, battle at, 560. 

Stockholm, Peace of, 492. 

Strabo, 4. 

Stralsund, siege of, 419. 

Strasburg, origin of, 224. Printing invent- 
ed at, 351. Reserved to the empire, 435. 
Seized by Louis XIV., 461. Besieged by 
the Germans, 728 sq. 

Streets, paved, in the cities, 321. 

Strossmayer, Bishop of Servia, 760. 

Stuttgart besieged, 242. 

Snabian cities, league of the, 269 nq. 

League, 299, 364. 

Suabians, the, 103, 114. The nobles of, 118, 
151. Poeticalgiftsof,lSO. Dialect of, 220. 

Subsidies of England to Prussia, 512 sq., 
5l9sq.,b56. 

Suevi, the tribe of, 7 sqq., 12, 36 sq., 46. 

Suidgar, Bishop of Bamberg, Pope Clem- 
ent IL, 159. 

Superstitions ofthe early Germans, 17,7Ssg'. 
Of the millennial year, 144. In the Church 
of the Middle Ages, 213, 347, 446 sq. 

Sutri, Synod at, 159. 

Suwaroflf, Russian general, 543, 561. 

Swatopluck I. of Moravia, 109. 

— - IL of Moravia, 113. 

Sweden driven out of Germany, 492 sq. 

Sweyn, King of Denmark, 186 sq. 

Swiss, struggles for freedom of the, 270, 
2S0. Victories of, over Charles the Bold, 
297 sq. Mercenaries, 298. Alliance of 
the, with France, 306. 

Switzerland, Burgundians in, 46. Rela- 
tions of, to the empire, 154. Supports 
Lewis IV., 255. The Reformation in, 
394 sqq. Severed from the empire, 435. 

Sword, the secuhir and the spiritual, 92. 

Syagrius, King of Gaul, 57, 65. 

Syllabus and Encyclical Letter of Pius IX., 
757 sq. 

Sylvester 11., Pope (Gerbert), 143. 

of Schaumburg, 372. 

T. 

Tacitus, account of the Germans by, 16 

sqq., 317, 354. ( SVe also 007.) 
Tallard, French general, 468. 
Tallevrand, French minister, 563, 569. At 

Vienna, 655, 662. 
Tancred of Lecce, King of the Normans, 

198. 
Tann, Von der. Bavarian general, 703, 711, 

732. 



Tanneuberg, battle at, 295, 338. 

Tarik, lieutenant of Musa, 53. 

Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, 88 sq. 

Tauenzien, General, 521, 637. 

Tauler, preacher in Strasburg, 349. 

Tanroggen, Convention of, 615 sq. 

Taxes' in the Roman provinces, 48. Un- 
der Charlemagne, 94, 133. Of the Diet 
of Worms, 303. Of Frederick IL, 530. 

Teimer, JIartin, Tvrolese leader, 002. 

Tejas, Kiiig of the" East Goths, 52. 

Tell,William, 270. 

Templars, the Knights, 223. Suppressed 
in France, 336. 

Temporal power of the popes, origin of, 
72 sq. 

Tench teri, the tribe of, 10, 15. 

Testri, battle at, 69. 

Tettenborn, Russian general, 623. 

Telzel, John, peddler'of indulgences, 357. 

Teutoberg forest, battle of the, 13. 

Teutons, 4, 6. 

Thankmar, sou of Henry the Fowler, 130. 

Theatres in the cities, 450. 

Theodoric the Great, King of the East 
Goths, 44 sqq. In minstrelsy, 94. 

, King of the West Goths, 41 tq. 

(Thierry), son of Clovis, 61. 

Theodosius, Roman emperor, 36. 

Theophano, wife of Otto IL, 137 sq., 141 
sq. Dies, 143. (See 145, 101.) 

Theudolinda, queen of Anlharis, 54. 

Thielemann, Saxon general, 623. 

Thierry {see Theodoric). 

Thiers, French statesman, 713, 727, 730. 
Diplomatic tour of, 736. 

Thirty- Years' War begins, 410 sqq. Char- 
acter of, 431, Ended, 434 .s^. Ravages 
of, 438 sqq., 443 sqq., 448, 667. 

Thomasius, 476. 

Thorn, Peace of, 295, 338. 

Thugut, Austrian minister, 555 sqq., 561. 
{See also 596.) 

Thunder-guns of Augsburg, 353. 

Thuringen, 82. Ravaged, 127. 

Thuringii (Thuringians), the tribe of, 5, 31, 
36, 40 .■*(/., etc. 

Thurn, Count Matthias, 410 sq. 

Thusnelda, wife of Armiuins, 14. 

Tiberius, conquests of, 12. Policy of, 14. 

Tieck, romantic poet, 596. 

Tilly, general of Maximilian IL, 415 sq., 
423 sqq. Death of, 426. 

Tilsit, the Peace of, 580 sq. 

Tithes among the Saxons, 87. In the em- 
pire, 97. 

Tilhing-land, the, 27. Occupied by the Al- 
lemanni, 30. 

Titles of nobility sold, 319, 454. 

Tobacco Parliament, 490,495. 

Tobitschau, battle of, 700. 

Tiickely, 464 sq. {See Emmerich of Tocke- 

ly.) 

Tolls on the highways, 229. 

Torgan, reformed league of, 370. Battle 
at, 520. 

Torquemada, inquisitor, 349. 

Torstenson, Swedish general, 433. 

Tortona conquered by Barbarossa, 189. 

Torture of slaves, 50. Of prisoners, 441. 
Of witches, etc., 447. Abolished in Prus- 
sia, 507. 



INDEX. 



797 



Totilas, King of the East Goths, 52. 

Tottlebeii, Russian general, 521 sq. 

Toulouse, a Gothic capital, 3S, 60. 

Tourneys, origin of, 125. 

Trade in the empire, 94. Of the German 
cities, 227. Destroyed bv the Thirty- 
Years' War, 451. Of Germany and the 
Zoll-Verein, Glinq. 

Trafalgar, battle of, 569. 

Transubstantiation, a new doctrine, 34S. 

Trautenau, battle of, 696 sq. 

Trantmannsdorf, Austrian embassador, 
434. 

Treasury, imperial, of Rudolph, 242. 

Trent, Council of, 388. Dettues Catholic 
doctrine, 399. 

Treves (Trier), origin of, 27. 

Trial by jurors and by ordeal, 50. 

Tribes among the Germans, 114, 124, 161. 

Tribur, council of bishops at, 169. 

Tribute paid to the Germans, 109. To the 
Hungarians, 125. Refused, 127. Paid by 
the Danes, 138. To the Turks by Ferdi- 
nand, 403. 

Trochu, French general, 72T. Governor 
of Paris, 740. 

Truce of God, 158. 

Tugeudbund, the, in Prussia, 591 aq., 608. 

Tuileries stormed by tlie mob, 549. 

Tuismund, son of Theodoric, 42. 

Turcilingi, the tribe of, 40, 43. 

Turenne, French general, 433 sq., 460. 

Turks, the, invade Europe, 294 sq., 302, 361 
sq. Threaten Vienna, 379 sq., 382, 404, 
465. Defeated at Montecuccoli, 404. At 
Belgrade, 472. 

Twilight of the gods, 25, 26. 

Tyrol, revolt and valor of, 468. Against 
the Bavarians, 601 sqq. 

U. 
Ubii, the tribe of, 10. 
Uhlaud, poet, .')96. 
TJhrich, General, commander at Strasbnrg, 

729. 
Ulm, Diet at, 1.54. Destroyed by Lothaire, 

182. Wine-market at, 342. Surrender 

of Mack at, 56S. 
Ulphilas translates the Bible into Gothic, 

32. 
tJlric, son of Everard of Wirtemberg, 272, 

330. 

of Wirtemberg, born 1487, 364, 374, 

382, 389. 

of Jungingen, Grandmaster of the 

German order, 338. 

von Hutleu, 364. 

Union, the Protestant, 407 ■•iq.,i\S. 

Unity of the Germans under Heury I., 122. 

In the war of liberation, 66S. 
Universal penny, or cajiitation tax, 303, 305. 
Universities, German, founded, 279, 475. 

Jesuits in, 399 sq. At the Reformation, 

444. 
University of Prague founded, 263, 268, 

279. Of Wittenberg, 357. Of Berlin, 595. 
Unni, Archbishop of Bremen, 127. 
Urban II., Pope, 171. Sanctions a crusade, 

214. 
Usipetes, tribe of, 10. 
Utrecht, Bishop of, 141. Conrad II. dies 

at, 155. Peace of, 470, 491. 



Vandamme, French marshal, 623, 635 sq. 



Vagabonds in the 14th century, 340 sq. 
Vagrant minstrels, 340 sq. 
Valens, Roman emperor, 35. 
Valentinian III., Roman emperor, 43. 
VaK-rien, Mount, fortress before Paris, 744 

sq. 
Valmy, battle of, 553. 

VaiKklsUheiwJis._QlL30v36 s>j^q^^i6sqq., 51^. 
Vandamme, French mars" 
Vangiovi, the tribe of, 8. 



m 

al,( 



Varus Quintilius in Germany, 12 sq., 83. 

Vassals of feudal lords, 65 sq. 

Vanbau, general of Louis XIV., 460. 

Vendome, French general, 467. 

Venice in Attila's time, 42. Under the 
doges, 54. Independent, S4. 

Vercelte, victory of Marius at, 7. 

Verdeu, massacre at, 86, 97 sq. 

Verdnn, Treaty of, 103. 

Versailles, the court of, imitated, 454. 

Victor II., Pope, 161. 

IV., Antipope, 191. 

Emanuel, King of Sardinia, 083. 

Victoria Adelaide of Great Britain, Princess 
of Prussia, 708. 

Vienna, early growth of, 233. Splendor 
of, 324. Treaty of, in 173.5, 470. Con- 
gress of, in 1815, 655 ■■•q. Reassembled, 
601 sqq. Peace of, with Denmark, 688. 

Villa-Pranca, Peace of, 084. 

Villages in the Middle Ages, 334. 

Vinili, the tribe of, 11. 

Vio, Thomas de, 360 {see Caietauus). 

Vionville, battle of, 720 .sf/. 

Visigoths, the tribe of {see West Goths). 

Vitiges, King of the East Goths, 51. 

Vittoria, battle of, 028. 

Vogts, or sheriffs, 93. 

Voigts-Rheetz, Prussian general, 711, 716, 
735. 

Voltaire visits Frederick II., 497, 508. 

VosB, German poet, 546. 

Vosseni, Peace of, 482. 

W. 

Wachan, battle at, 641. 
Wagram, battle of, 599. 
Wagrii, the tribe of, 147. 
Wahlstatt, battles at the, 6.94. 
Waiblinger, origin of the name, 185. 
Waldemar, Margrave of Brandenburg, 259, 
263. 

n. of Denmark, 204 sq. Oppresses 

the Frisians, 314. 

III. of Denmark defeated by the 

Hanse, 327 sq. 

Waldenses, persecution of the, 210. 
Wallenstein, Albert von, character of, 417. 

Wars of, 418 sqq., 426 -iq. Assassinated, 

429. Letter of, 445. Plans of, 451 sq. 
Wallia, King of the West Goths, conquers 

Spain, 3S. 
Walpot, Arnold, 329. 
Walter Lackland, 214. 
Walter von der Vogelweide, minstrel, 220. 
Wanderers in the Middle Ages, 340. 
War, changes in the art of, 339. 
Warustedt, battle of, 175. 
Warsaw, battle at, 480. Grand-Duchy of, 

erected, 581. 



V98 



WARTBURG. 



INDEX. 



Wartburg, the home of the Counts of 

Thuringia, 220. Luther at, 369.. 
Waterloo, battle of, 65S sqq. 
Wattignies, battle of, 555. 
Wedell, Geueral, 519. 
Weinsberg, siege of, 1S4 sq. 
Weisseubourg, battle at, 71T sq. 

, the lines of, 555. 

Welf I. of Bavaria, 101, 181. 

n., Duke of Bavaria, IMsq., 1T6. 

, brother of Heury the Proud, 184, 191. 

and Waibliuger, the war-cry of, 184, 

201 sq., 208. 

Welfesholz, battle at, 176. 

Wellington, the Duke of, 608, 656 sqq. 

Wenceslaus, St., of Bohemia, 126. 

■ , sou of Ottocar II. of Bohemia, 242, 

245. 

(see Wenzel). 

Wends, the race of {see Sclavonic tribesV 
Wenzel, Emperor, son of Charles IV., 

elected, 268. Character and reign of, 

269 sqq. Deposition of, 274. Dies, 276, 

283. {See also 330 sq.) 
III. of Bohemia, the last of the Premy- 

slides, 247. 
Werder, Prussian geueral, 711, 733, 742 sq. 
Weregeld, the money of atonement, 18, 50. 
Werner of Kiburg, death of, 1.54. 
of Eppeustein, Archbishop of May- 

ence, 239. 
Wesel, John von, preacher in Worms, 

349. 
West Franks, kingdom of the, 106 sq. 

Goths, the tribe and nation of, 30, 

32, 35 sqq., 41, 45, 49, 53, 7(t, etc. 

Western Empire, separation of, 36. De- 
cline of, 39. Pall of, 43. 
Westphalia, the Peace of, 298. Its terms, 

435 sqq. The kingdom of, created, 582. 

Destroyed, 645. Provisions of, for the 

churches, 754. 
Wettin, the house of, in Meissen, 232. 
White Hill, battle on the, 413, 499. 
Wickliffe, preaching of, 278. 
Widukind, a chronicler, 62. 
Wieland, poet, 546. 
Wienrich of Kuiprode, Grandmaster of 

the German order, 337. 
Wiffbert, missionary, 76. 
Wilfred, missionary, 76 (see Boniface). 
Wilhelmina, sister of Frederick II., 495 

sq., 539. 
William I. of England, the Conqueror, 

song of, 88. {SeeXnsq.) 

of Burgundy, Count, 187. 

• of Holland, anti-king, 209. Sole 

claimant of the crown, 238. Defeated 

by the Frisians, 312, 329. 

of Meissen, son of Frederick the 

Quarrelsome, 293. 

IV., Count of Holland, slain, 313. 

, Duke of Cleves and Jiilich, 383, 387, 

407. 

of Hesse, Duke of Mecklenburg, 393. 

of Orange, 401, 540. 

of Grumbach, 404 sq. 

, Landgrave of Hesse, 424, 431. 

- — III. of Orange, Stadtholder, 460. Be- 
comes king of England, 462, 485. 

. of Piirstenberg, 462. 

, Prince of Lippe-Schaumburg, 531. 



William, Prince of Prussia, son of Freder- 
ick William IL, 574, 587. 

, Count of Lippe-Schaumburg, 589. 

I. of Wirtemberg, 671. 

, Duke of Brunswick, 672. 

, Duke of Baden, 709. 

I., King of Prussia, Prince, 679. Re- 
gent, 683. King, 084. Manifesto of, 694. 
Government of, 708. At Ems, 714 sq. 
Becomes emperor, 751 sq. 

Willibrod, missionary, 76. 

Willigis, Archbishop of Mayeuce, 142, 144. 

Wilzi, the tribe of, 89, 126. 

Wimpfen, battle at, 415. 

Wimpft'eu, French general, 725. 

Wimpina, in Frankfort, opposes Luther, 
359. 

Wiudischgratz, Prince, 678. 

Wiufred, missionary, 76. 

Wiukelmann, art-critic, 546. 

Wiuterfeld, Geueral of Frederick IL, 513. 
Death of, 516. 

Winzegerode, Russian general, 629. 

Wirtemberg, a kingdom, 570. 

Witches in Luther's day, 440 sq. 

Witikind, Duke of the Saxons, 85 sq., 123. 

Witloch, battle of, 415. 

Wittelsbach, house of, Dukes of Bavaria, 
254. Counts Palatine, 259, 200. Opposes 
Charles IV., 263. Division in, 294. Ex- 
tinct in Bavaria, 534. 

Wittenberg, the house of, Dukes of Sax- 
ony, 26G sq. 

, John, of Lubeck, 328. 

• , Tetzel and Luther at, 358. 

Wittgenstein, Geueral, 615, 624. 

Wittstock, battle of, 431. 

Wizards punished, 446 sq. 

Wolf, scholar, 476, 497, 508. 

, philologist, 595. 

Jostraud, commander of the Dith- 

marshers, 315. 

Wolfgang of Anhalt, 392. 

William of Pfalz-Neuburg, 408 sq. 

Wolfram of Eschenbach, minstrel, 220. 

Wiillner, Edict of, 544. Revoked, 571. 

Woringen, battle of, 248. 

Worms, Synod of, 168. Festival at, 207. 
Origin of, 224. Diets at, 302, 367 sq. 
Edict of, 369. 

Wiirth, battle of. 718. 

Woronzofi", Russian general, 629. 

Wrangel, Swedish general, 43,3. 

, Prussian general, 678, 687. 

Wratislaw of Bohemia, 126. 

Wrede, Bavarian general, 562, 603, 645. 

Wulfhild, mother of Heury the Proud, 181. 

Wuotan, a god of the early Germans, 23. 

Wurmser, Austrian general, 555, 558. 

X. 

Xeres de la Froutera, battle of, 56. 



York, Hans David Lewis of, 570 sq., 593 
sq., 613, 615 sqq., 634, 039 .sqq. 



Zacharia of Leipsic, 545. 
Zacharias, Pope, 71 sq. 
Zeno, Emperor of the East, 44. 
Zenta, battle of, 466. 



ZIETHEN. 



INDEX. 



ZWINGLI. 



799 



Ziethen, General, 513,517 S5. 
Zinzendorf, Count, founds the Herrnhut 

communities, 4TC. 
Ziska, leader of the HussiteB, 283 sq., 285. 
Znaim, armistice of, 600, 603. 
ZoUern, Counts of, 28T sq. {see Hoheuzol- 

leru). 



Zoll-Verein, the, in Germany, 6T4 sq., (07. 

Zorudorf, battle of, 518. 

Zulpich, battle of, 58. Irmenfned mur- 
dered at, 62. 

Zwentibold {see Swatopluck). 

Zwingli, Ulric, Reformer, 3S2. Followers 
of, 394. Labors of, 395 sq. 



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M'CLINTOCK & STRONG'S CYCLOPEDIA. Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, 
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and J AMES Strong, S.T.D. h vols, now ready. Royal Svo. Price per vol., Cloth, 
$5 00 ; Sheep, $6 00 ; Half Morocco, $S 00. 

MARCY'S ARMY LIFE ON THE BORDER. Thirty Years of Army Life on the 
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Descriptions of the HabitsofDifl'erent Animals found in the West, and the Meth- 
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&c. By Brevet Brigadier-General R. B. Marov, U.S.A., Author of " The Prairie 
Traveller." W^ith numerous Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, Beveled Edges, $3 GO. 

MACAULAY'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. The History of England from the Ac- 
cession of James II. By Thomas Bahington Maoaulay. With an Original Por- 
trait of the Author. 5 vols., Svo, Cloth, $10 00 ; 12mo, Cloth, $7 50. 

MOSHEIM'S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, Ancient and Modern ; in which the 
Rise, Progress, and Variation of Church Power are considered in their Connec- 
tion with the State of Learning and Philosophy, and the Political History of Eu- 
rope during that Period. Translated, with Notes, &c., by A. Maclaine, D.D. 
A new Edition, continued to 18'26, by C. Coote, LL.D. 2 vols., Svo, Cloth, $4 00. 

NEVIUS'S CHINA. China and the Chinese : a General Description of the Country 
and its Inhabitants: its Civilization and Form of Government ; its Religious and 
Social Institutions ; its Intercourse with other Nations : and its Present Condition 
and Prospects. By the Rev. John L. Nevits, Ten Years a Missionary in Chiua. 
With a Map and Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75. 

THE DESERT OF THE EXODUS. Journeys on Foot in the Wilderness of the 
Forty Years' Wauderini;s ; undertaken in connection with the Ordnance Survey 
of Sinai and the Palestine Exploration Fund. By E. H. Palmer, M.A., Lord 
Almoner's Professor of Arabic, and Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. 
With Maps and numerous Illustrations from Photographs and Drawings taken 
on the spot bv the Sinai Survey Expedition and C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake. Crown 
Svo, Cloth, $3" 00. 

OLIPHANT'S CHINA AND JAPAN. Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to 
China and Japan, in the Years 1S57, '5S, '50. By Laurence OLiniANT, Private 
Secretary to Lord Elgin. Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, $3 50. 

OLIPHANT'S (Mrs.') LIFE OF EDWARD IRVING. The Life of Edward Irving, 
Minister of the National Scotch Church, London. Illustrated by his Journals and 
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RAWLINSON'S MANUAL OF ANCIENT HISTORY. A Manual of Ancient His- 
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Harper <5^ Brothers' Valuable and Interestitig Works. 7 

RECLUS'S THE EARTH. The Earth : a Descriptive History of the Phenomena \\w\ 
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and Edited by Heniy Woodward. With 234 Maps and Illustrations, and 23 Page 
Maps printed in Colors. Svo, Cloth, $5 00. 

RECLUS'S OCEAN. The Ocean, Atmosphere, and Life. Being the Second Sei'ies 
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SMILES'S LIFE OF THE STEPHENSONS. The Life of George Stephenson, and 
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SMILES'S HISTORY OF THE HUGUENOTS. The Huguenots : their Settlements, 
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SPEKE'S AFRICA. Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. By Cap- 
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numerous Illustrations, chiefly from Drawings by Captain Grant. Svo, Cloth, 
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STRICKLAND'S (Miss) QUEENS OP SCOTLAND. Lives of the Queens of Scot- 
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THE STUDENT'S SERIES. 

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Hume. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, *2 00. 

Rome. By Liddell. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

Old Testament History". Engravings. r2mo. Cloth, $2 00. 

New Testament History. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

Strickland's Queens of "England. Abridged. Engravings. r2mo. Cloth, $2 00. 

Ancient History of the East. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

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Lyell's Elements of Geology. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

TENNYSON'S COMPLETE POEMS. The Complete Poems of Alfred Tennyson, 
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THOMSON'S LAND AND THE BOOK. The Land and the Book; or. Biblical Illus- 
trations drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and the Scenery of 
the Holy Laud. By W. M. Thomson, D.D., Twenty-live Years a Missionary of the 
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TYERMAN'S WESLEY. The Life and Time? of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., Found- 
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VAMBERY'S CENTRAL ASIA. Travels In Central Asia. Being the Account of a 
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Caspian, to Khiva, Bokhara, and Saniarcand, performed in the Year 1S(J3. By 
Aeminius Vamherv, Member of the Hungarian Academy of Pesth, by whom he 
was sent on this Scientific Mission. With Map and Woodcuts. Svo, Cloth, $4 50. 

WOOD'S HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. Homes Without Hands : being a Descrip- 
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